KEY POINTS:
Foreign Affairs believes no New Zealanders were on board the Air Moorea plane which crashed into a lagoon on the Tahitian island of Moorea today.
Nineteen passengers and the pilot were on the Air Mo'orea plane which came down into a lagoon just after take off about 10am
NZT.
Fourteen bodies have been recovered and six people remain missing after the plane crashed about 10am NZT.
Two Australians are believed to be among those killed in the crash. Australian consular staff are in touch with the families of the two Australians.
The Twin Otter turboprop aircraft took off from Mo'orea Island bound for mainland Tahiti. It had been in the air for up to four minutes before it crashed, one nautical mile off the island.
Military divers and helicopters are at the scene, searching for bodies.
Three international citizens were among the dead but none are believed to be New Zealanders, French High Commission spokeswoman Ludivine Bayon said.
She said police had begun identifying the bodies.
On its website Tahiti Presse said those on board were believed to include EU and environment ministry officials as well as two tourists.
Ms Bayon confirmed that EU officers were among the passengers.
A police spokesman said: "The investigation is under way there now and police are still combing the area."
A spokesman for Air Mo'orea parent company, Air Taihiti, earlier said all 20 people were believed dead.
Ms Bayon said the cause of the crash was being investigated but the weather conditions on the island were clear at the time.
She said the flight was an island hopper and was usually only up in the air for seven minutes. Ms Bayon said the plane makes up to 40 flights per-day.
She said Air Mo'orea had a good record and the last incident they had was 10-15 years ago when a plane went off the runway into shallow sea. She said no one was killed in that accident.
French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie issued a statement expressing her condolences and saying that Christian Estrosi, secretary of state for France's overseas territories, would go to the region to show the government's solidarity.
- NZHERALD STAFF/ NEWSTALK ZB / REUTERS