Two men died when a light aircraft crashed into a single-family home in the northern German state of Lower Saxony on Saturday.

A police spokesman reported that initially one body was recovered from inside the aircraft in Ganderkesee, near Bremen. The second body was found later.

Emergency services had been searching for the missing second passenger for hours.

The aircraft is believed to have taken off from Bremen shortly before the crash, before losing altitude in a residential area in Ganderkesee.

The cause of the accident remained unclear at first. The police did not provide any further details about the victims. According to the spokesman, more information was expected later in the evening.

Emergency services work at the scene after a small plane crashed into the roof of a house in Ganderkesee, Germany, on Saturday. Photo: dpa via AP
Emergency services work at the scene after a small plane crashed into the roof of a house in Ganderkesee, Germany, on Saturday. Photo: dpa via AP

The residents were not at home when the aircraft crashed into the roof of their house. No one else was reported to have been injured.