One person was killed and three people injured after two small planes collided in Colorado.

The two aircraft, a Cessna 172 and an Extra Flugzeugbau EA300, crashed on Sunday morning when the pilots were trying to land at an airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“A small Cessna was on final approach to the airport when it was struck mid-air by a second small plane”, Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Two people were on board each plane when they collided at around 10:44am near Fort Morgan Municipal Airport in north-east Colorado, the sheriff’s office said.

One of the planes caught fire in the sky, while the other was heavily damaged.

Images showed one aircraft had been reduced to a mound of black ash, with just one wing and part of the tail still visible.

Emergency responders reported seeing “black smoke” and “active flames”, according to dispatch audio recorded on the Broadcastify website. At least one person was “trapped in one of the planes,” according to the recording.