All killed in plane crash in Malta were French

Three French Defence Ministry officials and two private contractors died when their plane on a surveillance mission over the Mediterranean crashed at an airport in Malta during take-off, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

The ministry will conduct an investigation on what caused the crash on Monday morning, Le Drian said in a statement.

Staff said investigations had begun and the aerodrome was closed until further notice. Several flights have been diverted to Sicily, many delayed and some canceled.

The flight was part of a French customs operation that had been going on for the past five months, Maltese officials said in statement. It had been scheduled as a local flight and was due to return within hours "without landing in third countries," the statement said.