Three people were injured after a small plane overran the runway at a local airport in the western Japanese prefecture of Hyogo on Sunday afternoon, rescue officials said.

The accident happened at Tajima Airport at around 1 p.m. local time when the plane shot out of the runway and rolled into an embankment adjacent to the airport site, which is approximately 20 meters high, according to the spokesperson at the city's fire department.

The spokesperson told Xinhua that the three men aboard the plane, including pilots, in their 60s and 70s were injured and admitted to the city's central hospital where all of them were treated for minor injuries.

Meanwhile, local media, including the country's public broadcaster NHK, said when the accident occurred, the pilots of the small plane heading from a regional airport in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan, to Tottori Airport in western Japan, were trying to make an emergency landing at Tajima Airport due to engine failure.

The runway has been closed as aviation and police officials carry out their investigation into the cause of the incident.