An Embrun man is dead after a plane he was in crashed near a Saskatchewan road.

47-year-old Iaroslav Gorokhovski was a passenger in the twin-engine plane that came down on the outskirts of Saskatoon.

Saskatoon police say the 42-year-old pilot and 57-year-old co-pilot sustained non life-threatening injuries.

The plane came down at 6:23 p.m. local time near the city's airport.

It landed atop a brick sound barrier separating the road from nearby houses.

"There's residences on one side of the street and there are businesses on the other side of the street," said Staff Sgt. Kirby Harmon of the Saskatoon police. "It's a main thoroughfare, two lanes going in each direction."

He said it wasn't yet known where the plane was coming from, but it had reported engine trouble and was believed to be trying to get to the Saskatoon airport.

"I think they were attempting to use the street as a landing area," he said.

Eyewitnesses agreed, saying the pilot appeared to be trying to avoid hitting either the nearby houses or the busy Extra Foods grocery store.

Some said they saw the plane coming in over a block of apartment buildings and saw the two propellers stop turning while the plane was in mid-air.

With files from the Canadian Press