A man died after a small aircraft crashed in western Germany's Sauerland region, police said on Tuesday.

The police statement said that the aircraft smashed into the garden of a residential building in the town of Plettenberg in the western state of North-Rhein Westphalia at around 4:40 p.m. local time (1540 UTC).

The man's identity had yet to be determined. He was said to have been the pilot of the aircraft.

What else do we know about the crash?

Germany's DPA news agency cited a police spokesperson as saying that the aircraft was a single-engine propeller plane.

A police helicopter was used to take photos of the scene of the crash.

Germany's federal agency for flight accidents (BFU) is the authority in charge of investigations into the incident. It will likely release a report after several months, according to police.

Several eyewitnesses observed the crash and were attended to by rescue workers at the site of the incident.

Police cordoned off the area around the garden shortly after the crash.

Edited by: Rana Taha