A cargo plane crashed into a commercial building in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, shortly after taking off from the city's main airport on Wednesday and the four crew members on board were feared dead, the Kenyan Airports Authority (KAA) said.

Television footage showed the tail and wings of a white plane ripped in half outside a smouldering two-storey building left mangled by the force of the impact.

KAA said on its Twitter feed all the crew members were "feared to have perished". Kenyan media reported the four crew members were killed.

"A Fokker 50 cargo plane with 4 people on board has this morning crashed at a commercial building in Utawala after taking off from JKIA," KAA said on its Twitter feed.

The plane crashed into shops in Nairobi's Embekasi neighbourhood near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), where a terminal was gutted by a major fire last year.

JKIA is east Africa's busiest airport and acts as vital travel gateway to the region.