Witnesses told emergency personnel that the twin-engine plane "went in nose first," leaving a debris field in Trinity Bay, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said on Saturday.

"It's probably a crash that nobody would survive," he said, referring to the scene as "total devastation".

Witnesses said they heard the plane's engines surging and that the craft turned sharply before falling into a nosedive, Hawthorne said.

The plane had departed from Miami and was likely only minutes away from landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

Australian Associated Press