The nine bodies of the Barberton plane crash victims are set to be taken to a Pretoria laboratory for DNA tests, Mpumalanga police said on Tuesday.

Superintendent Abie Khoabane said the teeth of the deceased would be matched with blood samples taken from their families.

"The purpose of this is to make sure the bodies are not switched, and families get the right one for burial. The bodies were burnt beyond recognition," said Khoabane.

The SA Civil Aviation Authority announced that its investigators had begun their probe into the crash.

CAA spokesperson Phindiwe Gwedu said the investigation started on Tuesday morning after the team arrived on Monday night.

"It is difficult to say how long the investigation on the site will take. It depends on various factors like how wide wreckage parts were scattered."

The light aircraft went missing in the Barberton region on Sunday afternoon en route from the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport in Nelspruit to Tempe Airport at Bloemfontein.

The Volksblad newspaper reported that two Bloemfontein families, returning from their Mozambique holiday, were killed in the plane crash.

The pilot of the plane was also a Bloemfontein resident and an instructor at a local flight school.

The plane's wreckage was found on Monday afternoon in a mountainous area and the bodies of the pilot and two couples with two children each were recovered.

Close friends

The Volksblad reported those killed in the accident were Craig Grant (44), his wife Tracy (39), and their two children Cameron (13) and Samantha (11).

The others were Glen Coward (42), his wife Helena (45), and their two sons David (13) and Richard (9).

Grant was a partner in a Bloemfontein law firm while Coward was the manager of a local business.

The two men had been good friends for many years, the report said.

The two families had decided to go on holiday together at the Bara Lodge in Mozambique.

The accident happened on their way back home on Sunday.

The pilot was Nico Nel (21), who was a flight instructor at the Westline Aviation Fly School in Bloemfontein.

Gwedu said the CAA team would also wait for a report on the post mortems before a final report would be compiled.

It was reported that family members were on their way to Barberton to identify the bodies.

Sapa