Islamabad, March 4 (IANS): At least two people were killed when a trainer plane of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed in the country's northwestern district of Dera Ismail Khan on Wednesday, media and officials said.

A PAF spokesman said the incident took place when a trainer plane "Mirage-V" crashed in Perwa area of Dera Ismail Khan, a district in the country's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Xinhua news agency reported.

The plane was on a routine training flight in the area when the accident took place, the official said.

Whether the dead persons were from the air force or were civilians is not known yet.

Police and security forces rushed to the site and cordoned off the area. Reports said the wreckage of the crashed plane was spread in the open field.

The official said that a search operation was on to find the pilot of the plane.

An eyewitness said the plane caught fire in the air before it crashed in the fields.