Soul star's plane may have been overloaded

The plane crash which killed American soul star Aaliyah may have been caused because the flight was dangerously overloaded.

The 22-year-old died with eight others when the twin-engined Cessna crashed just seconds after taking off from Marsh Harbour airport on Abaco Island in the Bahamas en route to Florida.

It has been reported the singer and her seven staff had been told by the pilot the plane could not hold all the camera and sound equipment they had loaded on board.

Lewis Key, a local charter pilot, told a newspaper he had overheard a dispute between the pilot and his passengers over the weight of the plane.

"With nine people and all the camera and sound equipment they were loading, the pilot kept saying there's too much weight," Mr Key said.

"He tried to convince them the plane was overloaded, but they insisted they had chartered the plane and they had to be in Miami on Saturday night."

Six people died instantly, among them the singer, when the plane plunged into swampland close to the airport and three more died in hospital after being pulled from the burning wreckage.

Witnesses reported hearing one engine stutter just after take-off and Mr Key said: "Several people have said they lost an engine on takeoff.

"But I guess the only people who know that for sure were on the plane - and they're all gone."