A team investigating the crash of a Twin Otter in Antarctica last January which killed three Canadians believe they have determined what happened.

The Transport Safety Board of Canada has released its report into the incident.

The investigation team was unable to use the cockpit voice recorder to determine the cause of the crash, as it had not worked since December 2012.

But using the plane's tracking system they were able to reconstruct the flight path, and believe the plane turned toward Mount Elizabeth, entering cloud cover which obscured the mountain.

While it's believed alarms sounded when the plane got too near the side of the mountain, the plane was unable to climb fast enough to avoid crashing into it.