An Indonesian military plane has crashed in a residential area in the capital of North Sumatra with 113 people on board, according to Indonesian Air Force officials.

Rescue teams are working through the night to recover bodies from the wreckage of the plane.

Indonesian Air Force chief of staff Agus Supriatna said 72 bodies had so far been pulled from the rubble, and 23 of those bodies had been identified.

He said there was no way anybody could have survived the crash.

It is unclear whether the victims were military personnel or civilians.

Mr Supriatna said the 50-year-old C130 Hercules had 12 crew and another 101 passengers on board when it took off from Soewondo Air Base in Medan shortly before midday (local time) on Tuesday.

Minutes into the flight, the pilot requested permission to return to the base.

The plane then banked to the right and plummeted into the ground, bursting into flames and wiping out buildings, including part of a hotel.

Indonesian military spokesman Major General Fuad Basya told the ABC the cause for the crash is yet unknown.

He said the plane did not have a black box flight record, which would make investigations into the crash difficult.

Dozens of people on the ground were also killed nearly ten years ago, when a commercial jet crashed in the same street.By Indonesian correspondent. George Roberts.  source-abc.net.au