Honolulu, June 23 -- A small plane used for skydiving crashed and burst into flames near the perimeter of a small seaside airport on the island of Oahu, killing all nine people aboard, officials said Saturday.

Preliminary information gathered by the Federal Aviation Administration indicated that the crash of the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air plane Friday evening happened as the plane took off from Dillingham Airfield on the north shore of the island, FAA spokesman Greg Martin said in a statement.

Some witnesses reported that the plane crashed as it was inbound to the airport, said Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves, cautioning that those reports had not been confirmed.

He described the site of the crash as being "quite a ways away from...