A plane carrying 10 US citizens and two local crew members has crashed in a wooded area in northwest Costa Rica, killing all on board.

Authorities say that so far they have only a list of passengers provided by the airline Nature Air, and are awaiting official confirmation of their identities.

Several members of the same family are among the 10 tourists.

The Public Safety Ministry posted photographs and video of the crash site showing the burning wreckage of the plane in Guanacaste.

The Nature Air charter flight took off from Punta Islita and was headed for the capital of San Jose when it crashed.