A small passenger plane carrying 11 people crashed in a forest near Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, on Wednesday, the Transport Ministry said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but the plane lost radio contact with air traffic controllers and was later located in the forest near Nanga Eboko, around 150km (90 miles) northeast of Yaoundé, the ministry said in a statement.

The aircraft was flying from Yaoundé Nsimalen airport to Belabo, in the east of the country, it added.

AFP news agency quotes official sources as saying the plane was chartered by a private company, the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO) which maintains a hydrocarbon pipeline that runs between Cameroon and neighbouring Chad.

It says the crash was the first major air catastrophe in the country since 2007 when a Kenya Airways plane carrying 114 people crashed after take-off from Douala Airport.