Magetan, Indonesia - Indonesian military investigators on Thursday sifted through the wreckage of an Air Force plane a day after it crashed into a residential neighbourhood in East Java, killing 99 people.

The Hercules C-130 transport plane was carrying military personnel and their families on a routine flight when it slammed into a row of houses and careened into a rice field in Magetan district on Wednesday.

Fifteen people survived the crash and two people on the ground were killed.

Sixteen Air Force investigators arrived at the crash site on Thursday and immediately began searching the debris for clues.

Rescuers were trying to retrieve three dead bodies still trapped in the wreckage of the aircraft, said Major Ali Sudibyo, the head of operations at the Iswahyudi Air Force Base in Madiun, a district near the scene of the crash.

The plane was due to make a stopover at the airbase when it went down.

The commander of the Iswayudi airbase, First Marshal Bambang Samudro, said the plane had been in good condition.

"The last contact with the control tower was when it was flying at 1,000 feet and no problems were reported," Bambang said.

The crash was the second fatal accident involving an Indonesian Air Force plane in recent weeks. On April 6, a Fokker F-27 crashed and burst into flames in West Java's capital, Bandung, killing all 24 on board.

Indonesia has also seen deadly accidents involving commercial airlines in recent years, prompting the European Union to ban the country's airlines from its airspace.

An Adam Air plane plunged into the sea in January 2007, killing all 102 people on board. None of the bodies was ever found.(dpa)