A Myanmar military plane carrying more than 100 passengers, including crew, soldiers and their family members, has gone missing, the national army has confirmed.

The plane dropped off the radar Wednesday while flying over the Andaman Sea between the southern city of Myeik and Yagon. A search and rescue operation is now underway.

90 military personnel & family members plus 14 cabin crew were on board missing Y-8-200F, says CinC. Search & rescue operation underway — Kayleigh E. Long (@ayleighk) June 7, 2017

"Communication was lost suddenly at about 1:35pm when [the plane] reached about 20 miles west of Dawei town," read the army chief’s statement.

Initial reports of the number of passengers on board ranged from 116 to 105. However, the latest count from military and civil aviation officials put the figure at 120, according to Reuters.

The Chinese Y8 transport plane was last head from at 1.35 pm local time. That is more than four hours ago. It's sunset currently. — Jonah Fisher (@JonahFisherBBC) June 7, 2017

Three military planes and six navy ships are continuing to search for the Chinese-built Shaanxi Y-8 transport plane.

"We don't know what exactly happened to this plane after the loss of contact," Kyaw Kyaw Htey, a civil aviation official at Myeik airport, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, an airport source told AFP: “We think it was a technical failure. Weather is fine there."