Light plane crash in southern Tasmania

A light plane has crashed into water in southern Tasmania.

An alarm was raised about 6.20pm (AEDT) on Monday that the aircraft had gone down near Port Arthur, on the Tasman peninsula.

There has been an increased level of air traffic in the area in recent days monitoring the progress of boats in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Organisers of the Sydney to Hobart several yachts were in the vicinity that may have diverted to render assistance.

Police are expected to release more information soon.