SAO PAULO - A Brazilian military transport plane carrying 11 people disappeared on Thursday as it was flying over the Amazon, officials said.

A search by two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-105 Amazonas plane was underway for the single-propellor Cessna C-98 Caravan, the air force said in a statement.

The plane was carrying nine public health workers and the two military pilots, a spokesman for the National Health Foundation of Brazil's health ministry that employed several of the workers told AFP.

The health workers had been heading to an indigenous community to carry out vaccination campaigns.

The spokesman corrected a Globo News television network report that had initially said there were seven health workers and four military personnel including the two pilots.

The air force said the missing plane had been flying between the towns of Cruzeiro do Sul and Tabatinga.