Two small planes collided in midair on Sunday in Warwickshire, England, killing five people, emergency workers said.

Four people from one plane and one from the other plane died in the crash, about 140 kilometres northwest of London.

Malcolm Collins was standing about 300 metres from the collision, which happened just before noon local time.

"We spotted a twin-engine aircraft coming over the country park, and as it came over we noticed it was fairly low, and literally, within a split second, we saw another much smaller light aircraft come from the right," Collins said.

"The twin-engined aircraft struck the light aircraft and just totally destroyed it," he said.

Both planes —- one a Cessna 407 and the other described as a microlight — had taken off from Coventry Airport and both were due to return there, police said.

With files from the Associated Press