Eleven people are dead and one person was injured after a plane of parachutists crashed in southern Poland.

According to Reuters, officials said that the crash happened just outside the city of Czestochowa and that the lone survivor was a man in his forties.

"Twelve people were on board the plane and the only survivor was taken to hospital and is in a serious condition," emergency services spokeswoman Justyna Sochacka told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Authorities said that shortly after takeoff the twin engine, Piper PA-31 Navajo aircraft crashed and caught fire in an orchard in the Topolow village.

The Associated Press noted that rescue workers called to the scene initially found the injured man and the bodies of two of the deceased. Later, however, a firefighters’ spokesman confirmed that nine additional bodies were recovered in the wreckage.

The plane flew out of a small airfield in Rudniki.

Officials are still investigating the incident and believe the plane could have been overloaded.