Three children have died after a plane crashed and burst into flames beside a highway.

The pilot of the aircraft had to tell air traffic controllers, “I won’t make it” before they plummeted from the air.

Three children were among the five people who died in the plane crash in Nashville, Tennessee, Sky’s US partner NBC News reports.

The plane came down off the eastbound lanes of Interstate 40, near Charlotte Park, at around 7.45pm local time on Monday.

On Tuesday, during a press conference, authorities said that the five dead were all Canadian citizens, including the three “minor” children.

In a press conference, National Transportation Safety Board air safety investigator Aaron McCarter said that the plane had circled over John C Tune Airport at 2,500 feet “for reasons unknown” before flying away.

‘My engine shut down’

It was on its return to the airport that it lost power, the air safety investigator said, before it crashed.

“My engine shut down,” the pilot said in a recording, NBC News reports. They continued: “I’m going to be landing. I don’t know where. Yes I have it [the airport] in sight. I’m too far away. I won’t make it.”

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However, authorities remain in the dark over why the pilot decided to approach and pass over the airport at 2.500 feet, or as to what caused the crash.

Mr McCarter said that the investigation was ongoing but the pilot had appeared calm as he informed air traffic controllers he was going down.

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The flight originated in Ontario, Canada, and had made two previous stops before the fatal crash.

Air controllers were reported as saying: “Keep flying that airplane. If you can glide in there, they’re clearing the runway for you.”

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