CHICAGO:(RAW AERIAL VIEW) At least 7 people were killed on Thursday when a small business jet crashed near an airport in southern Minnesota, the FAA said.

The victims were customers of an architectural glass company who had been headed to Owatonna, a town south of Minneapolis where the company is headquartered, the firm, Viracon Inc., said.

"We know there are a number of fatalities. We believe there are as least 7, possible 9" said Elizabeth Cory, spokeswoman for the FAA in Chicago. One local media report said one person had survived the crash.

The plane was a Hawker 800 jet operating as East Coast Jets Flight 81 and had left Atlantic City, New Jersey, earlier in the day, Cory said. The charter operator's website said the plane can carry eight passengers.

It crashed near a runway at the airport near Owatonna. Local media reports said heavy thunderstorms and high winds were sweeping the region at the time.

A spokeswoman for Viracon said those on the plane were headed for a meeting at its offices, and that no one on the plane worked for the company. Viracon was recently awarded a contract to supply architectural glass for New York's new Freedom Tower on the World Trade Centre site.