Sparendaam, Guyana (CNN) -- Two pilots, an American and a Canadian, were killed Saturday when the small aircraft they were flying crashed into a house in Guyana, officials said.

The pilots, whose names were not released, were the only people on board the six-seat plane.

Their Piper Aztec twin-engine aircraft had just taken off from Guyana's Ogle Airport when it encountered engine trouble, according to Robeson Benn, the South American country's minister of transport.

The plane crashed into a house in the coastal village of Sparendaam, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of the capital city of Georgetown, authorities said.

Residents in Sparendaam said they heard a loud explosion as the aircraft crashed into a small wooden house.

The only person in the house, Florence Dyer-Tyndall, 69, told reporters she ran out of the house after hearing the impact and seconds before it burst into flames.

The plane was registered to an American aerial photography and survey company based in Miami, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority said.