ROME -- At least 16 people were killed and more than 100 injured early Monday when an SAS passenger jet preparing for takeoff at Milan-Linate Airport hit a smaller craft and ploughed into a building, ANSA news agency reported.

Four of the dead were from the smaller Cessna plane, belonging to a German carrier, while 12 bodies had so far been pulled from the building hit by the Boeing twin jet belonging to Scandinavian carrier SAS, the agency reported.

The eventual toll could be far higher, "considering the seriousness of the accident," according to sources quoted by the agency.

Authorities at the airport in northern Italy were unable to provide any immediate details on the reported accident.

Initial reports said that SAS flight Sk 686 en route to Copenhagen with 104 passengers on board was preparing for takeoff when it made a sudden maneuver to avoid a small plane.

However, the SAS plane, a Boeing MD-80, hit the smaller plane before ploughing into an airport building and bursting into flames, reports said.

Several people were said to work in the building where the plane smashed.

Witnesses quoted by Italian media said that fog could have been the cause of the accident.

Firefighters and ambulance crew were on the scene and local hospitals put on a state of alert.