Four people were killed and four badly injured on Saturday when a small plane crashed in Russia's Kemerovo region in southwestern Siberia, the local emergency medical service said.

TASS news agency earlier said at least seven people were killed when the twin-engine L-410 crashed near the Tanay aerodrome, which provides parachuting services.

It also cited the local prosecutors' office as saying the crew had sent a distress signal about engine failure.

A medical services spokesman told Reuters the injured were being airlifted to hospitals.

Social media showed pictures of the heavily-damaged plane with an ambulance nearby.

A spokesman at a Siberian branch of Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia said a search and rescue operation was under way, declining to provide details.