At least four Myanmar military personnel were feared dead after a small air force propeller plane crashed shortly after take off in the capital Naypyidaw Wednesday, AFP reported citing official sources.

The Beechcraft passenger plane, which was carrying five crew members and believed to be on a routine patrol, went down in agricultural land near the airport.

Hundreds of people gathered in the area as officials raced to extinguish the fire and sift through the smouldering wreckage of the plane, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

"Four people were killed and we think one is alive," a senior police official in the capital told AFP, asking not to be named because the incident involved a military aircraft.

According to an airport official who also asked to remain anonymous, the plane burst into flames soon after leaving the runway.

No one from Myanmar's powerful and secretive military was immediately able to comment, AFP said.

(With inputs from AFP)