The owner of a plane and a pilot were killed and six others injured when a plane smashed into a road, partly hitting a bus in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

The light aircraft plummeted into a street of busy traffic, narrowly missing a queue of cars and causing the bus to burst into flames.

It happened in the busy Barra Funda neighbourhood on the city's west side, and huge plumes of thick black smoke could be seen across Marquês de São Vicente after the crash.

Witness Genival Dantas Arraes said: “The plane suddenly came down the avenue and I just saw everything flying and the fireball.

“It exploded immediately. Everyone was paralysed. The plane was ripping up palm trees and signs.”

Two people – a motorcyclist and a woman on the bus – were injured when they were struck by debris.

The aircraft, a small twin-engine King Air, had left Campo de Marte Airport, a nearby private airport. The control tower lost contact with the plane minutes later.