A plane conveying 11 persons crashed in a forest in central Cameroon on Wednesday.

Shortly after takeoff, air traffic controllers “lost radio contact with the aircraft” which was later “located in the forest” near Nanga Eboko, around 150 kilometres northeast of the capital Yaounde, the country’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement.

The radio signal was lost during the storm that hit the capital city late in the afternoon.

The plane was chartered by a private firm, the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO). The company maintains a hydrocarbon pipeline that runs between Cameroon and Chad. The ill-fated plane was flying from Yaounde-Nsimalen airport to Belabo, in the east of Cameroon.

Air and ground search teams have been put on duty.

Local media, Cameroon24, reported that the accident left no survivors; however, there has been no official confirmation from authorities.

It is the first major air catastrophe reported in Cameroon since 2007, when a Kenya Airways plane transporting 114 people crashed after take-off from Douala Airport. There were no survivors in that accident.