Two pilots have been killed after their plane crashed into the Caribbean Sea during an air show in the Dominican Republic.

According to the Dominican Today Daily, the men named as Second Lieutenants Rafael Eduardo Sanchez, 27, and Carlos Manuel Guerrero, 25, were killed after losing control while performing acrobatic manoeuvres at the fourth annual Air Show of the Caribbean in Santo Domingo.

Thousands of spectators watched in horror as the Chilean-made ENAER T-35 Pillan plunged into the water 500 meters south of the shore of Santo Domingo's Malecon.

In a 30-second clip posted on media shock site LiveLeak.com, the planes can be seen performing the stunt before the aircraft suddenly crashed into the sea. The pilots are said to have been killed on impact.

Witnesses at the scene claim that the plane sank less than a minute after hitting the water.

Divers were able to recover the bodies from the seas but the wreckage of the plane remains submerged.