Two aircraft have crashed in mid-air near the Slovakian border with the Czech Republic, killing at least seven people.

Described as small "sport" aircraft, the planes were carrying around 40 people on a parachuting trip when they collided at an altitude of 1,500m (5,000ft).

Images from the scene broadcast on Slovakian TV showed the burnt-out wreckage of one of the planes near the village of Cerveny Kamen, around 150km north of the capital.

Officials from the Slovak air accident investigators agency said that preliminary reports suggested the two aircraft involved were L-410 twin-engine planes.

They said that some of the parachutists survived by jumping from one of the planes just before the collision happened.

A spokesperson for the Slovakian fire service confirmed that seven people had been killed in the crash which occurred at around 8.30 GMT on Thursday morning.