The plane took off from Rio de Janeiro at 11:35 am local time (1435 GMT) and disappeared from the radar screen before it crashed into a ravine and exploded 135 km away from Florianopolis, capital of the state, the Brazilian Air Force said in a press release late Tuesday.

The C-98A Grand Caravan plane was from a transport unit of the Brazilian Air Force, it said.

A witness said that he saw the plane diving into the ground before it exploded and caught fire.

This is the fifth accident involving Brazilian Air Force planes in 2011. The previous four crashes killed five people.

The Brazilian Air Force said it had launched an investigation into the accident.