A Pakistani Army plane crashed into people's homes during a training mission, killing at least 18

• A small military plane operated by the Pakistani Army crashed into a residential area in Rawalpindi, a northern city near Islamabad, during a routine training exercise early Tuesday morning.
• All five crew members on the plane died, as did at least 13 people on the ground. Children are among the dead, The Associated Press reported.
• Footage from the disaster showed the crash creating a bright orange fireball, and a huge blaze spreading across people's houses.
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A small Pakistani military aircraft crashed into several people's homes during a routine training exercise in the country's north on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people.

The aircraft crashed in a residential area in Rawalpindi, a garrison city 14 miles south of Islamabad, early Tuesday morning, The Associated Press (AP) and the BBC reported.

All five crew members - including two pilots - died from the crash, as did 13 other people on the ground, the AP reported.

There are children among the dead, the agency added, citing emergency service official Farooq Butt.

Others were critically injured, Butt told the AP - suggesting that the death toll could rise.

The crash ignited a fire that spread across several homes, the BBC reported. Footage posted on social media showed a bright orange fireball, as well as a huge blaze destroying building structures in the dark.

The cause of the crash remains unclear. The BBC reported that the aircraft had taken a steep turn not long before the crash.

The BBC identified the plane as a King Air 350 turboprop, which can be used for surveillance purposes. It's not clear what the Pakistani military wanted to use this plane for.

Rawalpindi residents said the aircraft crashed into a family home around 2 a.m. local time, the BBC reported.

Many were woken up by the explosion, and saw debris from the burning plane near their homes, the AP said.

Witness Yasir Baloch told the BBC: "The tail of the plane was on fire and it took barely two to three seconds and it crashed four houses away from my house and burnt to ashes."

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi issued separate statements on Tuesday morning, noting their "sorrow over the loss of lives" in the crash and sending "prayers for the early recovery of the wounded."

The Pakistani army has been on high alert since February, when military tensions between Pakistan and neighboring India came to the surface after a terrorist attack in the disputed region of Kashmir killed 40 Indian troops.

Read more: Here's what life is like on the border between India and Pakistan, one of the world's most disputed regions

There have been multiple aviation disasters in Pakistan in recent years.

In 2009, a Russian-manufactured, military transport helicopter crashed in the northwestern Orakzai district, killing around 40 people.

A commercial flight flying from the northern Pakistani city of Chitral to Islamabad crashed due to a supposed engine failure in December 2016, killing all 47 people on board.

The deadliest crash was in July 2010, when an Airbus 321 aircraft operated by Pakistan's budget Airblue airline crashed near Islamabad, killing all 152 on board.