Six people, including a child, have died after a small aircraft crashed in a wooded area in Wisconsin.

Emergency services were called at around 9.30pm local time on Tuesday, October 13, following multiple reports of a downed aircraft in the town of Dellona, Sauk County.

Sauk County Sheriff Chip Meister confirmed that all six people on board — five adults and one child — were killed. Their identities have not yet been released.

The aircraft came down in a densely wooded area near Mirror Lake State Park, close to Park Lane and Herwig Road. The report supplied to UKNIP identifies the aircraft as a fixed-wing Piper which had been travelling from Kenosha towards Menomonie.

Investigation under way

The pilot is understood to have been in contact with an air traffic control tower before the crash, although investigators have not yet established the nature of that communication. Pasted text

Sheriff Meister said investigators were working to determine what had been discussed before the aircraft went down.

Police, firefighters, paramedics, the Sauk County Coroner’s Office and Wisconsin State Patrol attended the scene. Pasted text

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have been notified and are assisting with the investigation into the cause of the crash. Pasted text

Authorities have asked members of the public to avoid the area while investigators continue examining the scene.