A major rescue operation is under way at the site which was covered in flames and thick black smoke.
The BBC's Alice Budisatrijo in Jakarta says that only the tail of the aircraft is still recognisable; the rest has been reduced to debris.
Our correspondent says that there are reports that people are trapped inside wrecked buildings and the nearest hospital is continuing to receive bodies arriving from the crash site.
Many of the passengers are thought to have been relatives of servicemen and women.
It is too early to know exactly how many people were killed in the disaster, or what caused it, our correspondent says.