Four die after plane catches fire in Norway

OSLO - Four people died after a plane with 16 people on board burst into flames after landing at an airport in western Norway, police said today.

"Four persons have been found dead in the plane," police officer Svein Roald Vikse told Reuters.

"They have not been identified yet."

Police said the plane had problems during landing at 7:37am (6.37am NZT) in Stord, an island south of Bergen on Norway's west coast, and caught fire after sliding off the runway.

Six of 12 passengers who were rescued were flown to a severe burns centre in Bergen, about 60km away. The others were treated for lighter injuries in local hospitals.

The plane was chartered by oil services firm Aker Stord, part of offshore engineering group Aker Kvaerner .

The Atlantic Airways plane from Denmark's self-governing Faroe Islands in the North Sea was making a stopover between Norway's offshore oil capital of Stavanger and the town of Molde, further up the country's western coast, Aker Stord said.

Molde is the base for the huge Ormen Lange gas field, which will soon supply Britain with a fifth of its gas needs.

Witnesses speaking on public broadcaster NRK spoke of a loud boom, a fireball and billowing smoke. Pictures from the site on media websites showed a column of smoke above burning debris.

- REUTERS