Manila, Feb. 6 -- Four people were killed when a private plane crashed in a rice field in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, on Thursday afternoon, officials said.

Ameer Jehad Ambolodto, the provincial disaster response officer, confirmed that emergency responders recovered the bodies of four victims, described as Caucasian-looking men, from the wreckage of the Beechcraft King Air 300 with aircraft registration number N349CA.

"We have yet to confirm the identities of the victims," Ambolodto said.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing the aircraft flying low over Ampatuan, as if surveying the area, before it suddenly nose-dived into an open field in Barangay Malatimon.

Videos circulating on social media showed the wreckage, along with a water buffa...