This December 2009 photo released by Xinhua shows a Henan Airlines plane, reported by China's news agency to be the same model of aircraft that crashed Tuesday at an airport in Heilongjiang province.This December 2009 photo released by Xinhua shows a Henan Airlines plane, reported by China's news agency to be the same model of aircraft that crashed Tuesday at an airport in Heilongjiang province. (Xinhua/Associated Press)

Chinese state media says 42 people are dead after a Henan Airlines plane with 91 people on board overshot a runway and burst into flames in northeast China.

The crash happened at the Lindu airport in Yichun city in Heilongjiang province at 10:10 p.m. local time, the official Xinhua news agency said. The plane left Heilongjiang's capital of Harbin just before 9 p.m. local time.

Wang Xuemei, the vice-mayor of Yichun, told state television broadcaster CCTV that 49 people, including three who were seriously injured, had been taken to hospital.

Henan Airlines flies smaller regional aircraft mainly in the north and northeast of China.

With files from The Associated Press