The crash of an An-12 plane 1.5 kilometers from the runway of Lviv International Airport on Friday morning may have been caused by pilot error or because the fuel ran out, Ukraine's Infrastructure Deputy Minister Yuriy Lavreniuk has said.

"Two versions are being considered now. The first is that the fuel ran out, and the second is pilot error… The weather was bad and there was heavy fog. All circumstances of the crash are being investigated," he said in a live interview with 112.Ukraine TV.

He said the plane was transporting 10 tonnes of cargo.

The deputy minister said the plane's pilots are among the survivors of the crash.

"The injured, severely injured pilots were taken out of the cockpit ... Representatives of the State Emergency Service are communicating with them to find out all the circumstances of the incident," he said.

As reported, as a result of an emergency landing of the An-12 aircraft near Lviv, five people were killed and three injured. Rescuers evacuated victims of the crash, with injuries of varying severity, who were hospitalized in Lviv.

The transport An-12 plane from the Ukraine Aeroalliance airline fleet made an emergency landing on the ground at a distance of 1.5 km from the runway of the Lviv International Airport on Friday morning after disappearing from the radar. There were eight passengers on board, including seven crew members and one person accompanying the cargo.

Charter cargo flight #UKL4050 was flying along the route Vigo (Spain) to Istanbul (Turkey) and should have landed at the Lviv airport for refueling. Media reported that the pilot who made the emergency landing was 51 years old.