At least 55 people were killed when a military transport plane crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off in northern Indonesia on Tuesday, but the toll looked set to rise after it emerged that more than 100 people had been on board.

"It looks like there are no survivors," Air Marshal Agus Supriatna told Metro TV in the Sumatra city of Medan, adding that some of the 113 passengers were air force families.

The crash of the C-130B Hercules aircraft, which went into service half a century ago, is bound to put a fresh spotlight on Indonesia's woeful air safety record and its aging planes.