A military plane appeared to stall during take-off before crashing and exploding at a Malta airport, dash cam footage has revealed.

The video shows the plane leaving the ground at Luqa before appearing to stall midair before rapidly descending before exploding on the ground.

Five people were killed in the crash.

The plane had been chartered by French customs and was monitoring trafficking activity in the Mediterranean, the Maltese government said in a statement.

It added that all the victims were French nationals and that there was no indication of an explosion on board prior to the crash.

The French defence ministry confirmed the deaths, describing the plane as having been involved in "reconnaissance missions in the Mediterranean".

The Maltese government said the aircraft was a Fairchild Metroliner Mark III registered in the United States and leased to a Luxembourg company.

"Official information, footage and eyewitnesses, including three members of the Armed Forces of Malta at the nearby barracks, and two commercial airline pilots, clearly indicate that there was no explosion prior to impact," a government statement said, adding that an investigation was under way.

Remains of all five victims had been recovered.

"The flight was part of a French customs surveillance operation which has been taking place for the past five months, with the aim of tracing routes of illicit trafficking of all sorts, including human and drug trafficking amongst others," the government said.

The Times of Malta reported some of the burning wreckage ended up on the airport perimeter road and firefighters on the scene were spraying the area with foam.

"I heard the scream of a plane, and then saw it come crashing down. It burst into flames immediately," a witness told the news organisation.

"Very little of the plane was left, just some debris."