MONTREAL (CNN) -- Twelve people died Thursday morning when a plane made a forced landing at Montreal's Mirabel airport around 7:35 a.m. EDT, police said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that 10 passengers and two crew members were dead after a crash near one of the runways at the airport north of Montreal.

The plane's pilot radioed of difficulties and mentioned smoke before the plane arrived at Mirabel, Pierre Giguere, the police spokesman at the airport, told CNN. ( 230K/17 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

"There was smoke inside the cabin that forced the landing at Mirabel," said another officer, Sgt. Marcel Parent.

The King Air twin-engine commuter plane owned by Rouyn-Noranda-based Prop Air left Dorval Airport in Montreal destined for an undisclosed city in Ontario, local television said.

Parent said the plane was full and everyone on board was dead.

Television images showed at least 10 emergency vehicles at the end of Mirabel's runway 24 east.

Black clouds of smoke billowed above the scene.

Reuters contributed to this report.