JERUSALEM, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Three people died on Thursday when a small private plane crashed at an airport in Haifa, a coastal city in the north of Israel, local media reported.

Three others were critically injured in the accident, according to Israeli Channel 10. Police and rescue services said the plane, which was flying in from Larnaca in Cyprus, crashed near the tiny airport near the Technion University.

There may have been a mistake in navigation that caused the plane to hit a building, said the report.