Search under way for Brazil plane

The C-98 usually carries passengers and cargo over short distances

The Brazilian air force is searching for a military transport plane that disappeared over the Amazon region on Thursday with 11 people on board.

The Cessna C-98 Caravan issued a distress signal an hour after it left Cruzeiro do Sul in the Brazilian state of Acre at 0830 local time (1230 GMT).

It was carrying four crew and seven health ministry workers involved in a vaccination campaign in the Amazon.

Eight planes - one with thermal sensors - are part of the search effort.

The searches continued all morning, but without success, the Brazilian Air Force said in a statement issued on Friday.

It said it was searching a wide area of the Amazon rainforest using eight aircraft, including two Black Hawk helicopters, a C-105 Amazonas aircraft and an R-99 reconnaissance plane equipped with heat-detecting sensors.

The Cessna was en route to Tabatinga, in the state of Amazonas, when it went missing. The cause of the crash is not known.