Spain's airport authority says three occupants of a plane involved in an air rally died when their aircraft plunged to earth shortly after takeoff from an airfield on the Balearic island of Mallorca.

AENA said Saturday that the single-engined Cessna 172 registered at Sabadell airdrome near Barcelona in northeast Spain was one of several planes taking part in a rally.

Spokeswoman Margarita Ferrandiz said the planes had taken off from Son Bonet in still, sunny conditions bound for San Luis on the neighboring island of Menorca when the Cessna crashed.

She added that firefighters and emergency services cordoned off an area around a private estate 45 kilometers south-southeast of the village of Sa Pobla. The causes of the crash are being investigated.