A two-seater trainer aircraft crashed in Odisha's Dhenkanal on Monday, killing a trainee pilot and her instructor, district officials said.

The trainer aircraft crashed on the tarmac at the Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI) at Birasala in the district, soon after taking off. The deceased were identified as trainer Sanjay Kumar Jha and student Anisha Fatima. 

The trainer and the student took off at around 6:30 in the morning for training on a Cessna FA-152 VT-ENF trainer aircraft. The plane climbed to a height of 15 to 20 feet and then suddenly plunged and crashed. 

The crash might have occurred due to a technical glitch, officials said. 

Both the people on board were killed instantaneously. The bodies of both pilots have been recovered and sent for postmortem.

The crash happened at Birasal Airstrip under Kankadahad police station limits in Dhenkanal district.

Dhenkanal SP Anupama James reached the spot and an investigation has commenced. Trainer Sanjay Kumar Jha was from Bihar while Anisha Fatima, a student undergoing training, was from Tamil Nadu, authorities said.