The plane took off from Umeå airport at just after 1.30pm on Sunday, and sent out an alarm at 2.12pm, shortly before it crashed, nose-first, into the ground.
"We are already on the scene with a rescue team which is assisting the ambulance and we have opened a location, together with aid organisations, to give psychological and social care," Conny Qvarfordt, from the local rescue services, told Sweden's TT newswire.
"It's a parachute plane, and something seems to have happened just after take-off."
The plane crashed onto Storsandskär island, just 2km from Umea's airport, in the delta of the Umea river.
Swedavia, operator of Umea airport, said that the plane was a GippsAero GA8 Airvan.
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