An electrical fire required a cargo plane's pilots to try an emergency landing in a Philippine rice field when the aircraft burst into flames, killing 3 of its six squad,said Thursday.

The Russian-made Antonov-12 airplane was flying from Mactan in the middle Philippines and crashed behind Wednesday in the field concerning 35 kilometers south of Clark airport, the former U.S. air base close to Manila, said Alfonso Cusi, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.

Firefighters struggled into the night to put out the flames that engulf the airplane after it exploded on crash, ripping the plane into 2 sections, said police Chief Inspector Carlito Fabro.

Villagers manage to rescue 3 crew member 2 Russians and an Uzbek, who suffered bruises and were brought to a hospital in near Mexico township, police said.

3 other crew were originate dead near the cockpit, Cusi said, adding investigators were trying to recognize the burned bodies. A police report said they included 2 Russian ground engineers and a Bulgarian.

"They had a technical problem, and a fire broke out inside the plane," Cusi told The Associated Press. "Their communication signal unexpectedly got garbled then the plane disappeared in the radar."

Police quoted the Russian pilot as saying that the plane encounter electric circuit problem about an hour into the flight, and a fire that broke out compulsory him to make an emergency landing on the open field. The airplane was charter by shipping company UPS Inc. from its owner, Interisland Airlines of the Philippines, police said.