Five people have died after a private airplane crashed near a supermarket in Tires.

A small plane crashed beside a supermarket near Lisbon, killing four people on board the aircraft and one on the ground. Four people were slightly injured, emergency services said.

The dead included the Swiss pilot, three French passengers on the plane and a Portuguese truck driver, emergency services operational commander Miguel Cruz told The Associated Press on Monday.

The Swiss-registered plane crashed shortly after a noon local time (11pm NZ Time) takeoff from the small Tires airfield, 20 kilometres west of the Portuguese capital, Cruz said. Officials said that the crash happened amid clear skies and a light wind.

REUTERS Smoke is seen after a small plane crashed near a supermarket in a residential area outside Lisbon, Portugal.

The Tires airfield said the plane was a twin-engine Piper PA-31 Navajo aircraft. The airfield was closed as authorities opened an investigation.

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The truck driver was offloading his cargo at the supermarket's rear cargo bay, about two kilometres from the runway, when the plane crashed near him. His truck was set ablaze.

Authorities declined to identify those killed in the plane until their identities could be compared with the flight manifesto.

The injured were shopping inside the supermarket, which is located in a residential neighbourhood, and were treated for shock and smoke inhalation. The crash occurred about 150 metres from an elementary school.

About three dozen firefighting vehicles rushed to the scene, arriving within six minutes, according to officials. Nearby houses were blackened by smoke, with nine people forced to move out of their homes.