A Yemeni military helicopter crashed in a crowded neighborhood in central capital Sanaa on Tuesday, leaving at least nine people dead and 23 others injured, local officials and witnesses said.

Officials at the operation room of the Yemeni Air Force Base confirmed to Xinhua that a military helicopter crashed near the Sanaa University in downtown the capital, where thousands of protesters against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh have been camping for nearly two years.

One of the officials told Xinhua that the crashed helicopter was a "Russian-made Sokhoi."

Medical sources said only the pilot onboard the plane was killed and eight civilians, including two children and three women, on the ground were confirmed dead after the plane damaged several buildings.

The death toll may rise as the plane crashed in a crowed neighborhood.

Rescue efforts were still underway to search for possible survivors underneath the wreckage.

Another official at the air force base told Xinhua that a technical problem caused the incident.

Several ambulances and fire trucks have arrived at the site to transfer the injured to nearby hospitals and put out the fire. Black smoke could be seen from several kilometers away.

It is the second plane crash in the capital in the past few months after a Russian-made Antonive warplane crashed in Hassaba neighborhood in northern Sanaa on November 21, 2012.