Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Women and children were among at least 97 people killed when an Indonesian Air Force Hercules transport plane crashed in East Java this morning.

The family members of serving air force personnel, many stationed in the easternmost province of Papua, were returning from leave in Java. The plane crashed shortly after 6.30am local time (9.30am AEST) after taking off from Jakarta about an hour earlier.

There were reports of parts of the plane falling from the sky before it hit the ground, shortly before it was due to land at Iswahyudi military air base in the city of Madiun. At least three local resident were killed by falling debris.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called a crisis meeting this afternoon with his military chiefs, including defence minister Juwono Sudarsono, demanding an explanation for the latest disaster to hit the country's beleaguered armed forces.

The accident comes little more than a month after a Fokker F27 smashed into a hangar while attempting to land at a military base in Bandung, West Java. That crash killed six crew and 18 trainee paratroops.

Indonesia's underfunded military struggles to achieve basic maintenance levels on much of its equipment. It also has yet to fully recover from the impact of a six-year US military embargo imposed over human rights abuse concerns, and which was only lifted at the end of 2005.