At least three people were killed as a small plane crashed in the Beltinci municipality in the northeastern region of Prekmurje on 17 November, police have confirmed as an investigation continues to determine the circumstances and the cause of the accident.

The plane took off from Maribor airport at 11:20am and crashed near the Gančani village football field shortly before noon, Robert Roudi of the Murska Sobota Police Department told reporters.

They have yet to determine how many people were on board as they are yet to obtain a list of how many people were on the flight and the victims are yet to be identified.

"The examination of the site of the accident is still ongoing and the identity will be established once it is completed," the official said.

Apart from police officers, an investigating judge, a prosecutor, an aviation inspector and a forensic expert are at the scene.

The local Sobotainfo news portal initially reported that there were supposed to be four people on board, but one did not in fact come along. It said everyone on board was killed.

According to TV Slovenija, two men, aged 30 and 33, both from the Beltinci area, and a woman from the Štajerska region died in the accident.

Sobotainfo reported that the panoramic flight en route from Maribor to Lendava and back was a birthday present for one of those on board.

The plane, which media identified as Cessna 172M Skyhawk, belonged to the Maribor aviation centre. It took off in sunny weather in Maribor and headed for Prekmurje, where there was dense fog, which is believed to have been a possible reason for the crash.

The latest accident is the deadliest on Slovenian soil since 2016 when a six-seater Piper 32, en route from Venice to Leipzig, crashed and burned over the western town of Ajdovščina on 14 July, killing all four people on board, all German nationals. On 1 September the same year a small Piper 28 aircraft crashed in Bovec in the northwest, killing all three people on board.

A hot air balloon crashed on landing near Ig in Ljubljana Marshes on 23 August 2012, killing six of the 32 people on board in what was the worst aviation accident since Slovenia became independent in 1991. The balloon hit the ground several times as well as a tree. Several of the victims fell out of the basket and others were engulfed in fire. Four people died at the scene and two in hospital later.

In the deadliest aircraft accident on Slovenian soil on record since the 1960s, 98 people died and 19 survived as a Bristol Britannia aircraft, en route from London, crashed while landing at Ljubljana airport on 1 September 1966.

The worst accident involving a Slovenian aircraft claimed 180 lives on a charter flight between Ljubljana and Corsica as a DC-9 plane of Inex-Adria Aviopromet, the precursor of now defunct Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways, crashed into Mount San Pietro in Corsica while landing at Ajaccio airport on 1 December 1981, killing everyone on board.