Aeromexico said in a tweet that the Embraer 190 aircraft, flight number 2431, was on its way to Mexico City from Durango.

There were 103 passengers and crew on board at the time.

But authorities said most escaped serious injury and no one, so far, has died.

The jet made an emergency landing about six miles (10km) from Durango City airport.

Governor Jose Rosas Aispuro told Mexican television witnesses described hearing “a bang” before the plane hit the ground.

Mexico’s authorities said 85 were injured and somewhere between 37 and 49 needed hospital treatment.

Two are in a critical condition, the civil protection agency said.

A reporter for network Milenio said some passengers had been able to walk to a nearby motorway for help.

Alejandro Cardoza, a spokesman for the state’s civil protection agency, said on local television that a fire had broken out but had been extinguished.

All had been able to leave the plane before the blaze got too bad, he added and “many managed to leave the plane on foot”.

One passenger, Jackeline Flores, later told reporters she and her daughter got out through a hole in the fuselage as the aircraft began to fill up with smoke.

“A little girl who left the plane was crying because her legs were burned,” said Ms Flores.

There were conflicting accounts of whether the plane either fell shortly after takeoff or ran off the runway without gaining altitude.

But witnesses and officials agreed the plane was trying to take off during a storm, with some reporting hail stones the size of marbles.

The operator of Durango airport, Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, blamed bad weather conditions but an investigation is under way with a team of technicians on the way to the crash site from Brazilian planemaker Embraer.

SkyNews