WASHINGTON: Nine people were killed on Sunday (Nov 1) when the Learjet they were travelling in plummeted into a neighbourhood in southern Florida, just miles from US President Donald Trump's resort home of Mar-a-Lago, officials said.

Several unverified clips depicting the deadly crash and posted to social media show an aircraft nearly vertical slamming at high speed into the ground and triggering a large fireball, leaving a flaming crater near a busy roadside.

"Today's plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida is a horrific tragedy," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement, confirming that all nine people on board were killed.

Duffy said the plane, a Learjet 60, had departed from Austin, Texas and was headed for the Bahamas.