A child and two women have died after a plane crashed into a crowd in central Germany.

Several more people were injured in the incident near the town of Fulda in Hesse on Sunday, police said.

The child was believed to be nine or 10 years old.

The victims were standing at the edge of an airfield at the Wasserkuppe hill when they were hit after the plane attempted to take off from an aborted landing.

Police say the Cessna aircraft failed to gain life and broke through a barrier.

Five other people – the four on board the plane and an eyewitness – were suffering from shock.

The plane came from the Mannheim area of southwestern Germany and had been on an excursion to the Wasserkuppe.