Six people were killed after a small plane carrying Rio Tinto workers crashed near Fort Smith in Canada's remote Northwest Territories (NWT), the NWT Coroner Service said on Wednesday.

Four passengers and two North Western Air Lease crew members died in the crash, Chief Coroner Garth Eggenberger said in a statement, adding the plane had been travelling from Fort Smith en route to the Diavik Diamond Mine.

There was one survivor who was treated at the Fort Smith Health Centre before being taken to hospital in the provincial capital Yellowknife.

Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said in a statement on Tuesday night that the company was devastated by the crash. REUTERS