[Chris Tully]

TWO children and an adult have died after a Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed into their home.

The US plane came down after reporting an engine fire, but all eight people on board survived.

The three who died lived in a farmhouse that was struck by one of the plane's turbines, witnesses told local radio.

The cargo plane was taking flowers from Bogota, Colombia, to Miami when it crashed shortly after take-off.

The Boeing 747, owned by Michigan-based company Kalitta Air, fell on the rural home 20km west of Bogota.

Colombia's civil aeronautics agency said: "As a result of the accident, three people - residents of a house that the aircraft hit - died."

The plane's eight crew members survived and were taken to a hospital in the town of Madrid.

Four of them were out of danger while the rest were being treated for serious injuries, police said.

The plane had taken off from Bogota's El Dorado airport before it crashed and burst into flames.

"The plane crashed when it was trying to return to Bogota after reporting a fire in one engine," said Donald Tascon, a top official with Civil Aviation.

Civil Aviation said the plane was owned by Kalitta Air and "operated in Colombia by the company Centurion", also from the US.

Kalitta Air spokesman Pete Sinderland confirmed the company owned the plane.

"The aircraft is a Boeing 747 leaving from Bogota to Miami carrying flowers," he said. "We do not have the cause of the crash."

news.com.au