At least 15 people are dead and 30 others are injured after a Hercules aircraft crashed onto a busy avenue amid inclement weather in the Bolivian city of El Alto, according to media reports.

The aircraft was transporting new banknotes to the interior of the country, local media station Unitel said, citing the Bolivian Ministry of Defence.

Fire chief Pavel Tovar could not clarify if the dead were in the plane or in cars on the highway near the airport in La Paz.

Social media footage showed chaotic scenes of people flocking to the scene of the crash, appearing to pick up money that lay strewn on the ground following the accident.

Debris from the aircraft, destroyed cars, and bodies littered the road. According to Tovar, at least 15 vehicles were involved.

Firefighters managed to extinguish the flames engulfing the aircraft, he said.

The El Alto International Airport was temporarily closed following the crash, national airline Boliviana de Aviacion said in a statement, which said the aircraft involved in the accident did not belong to its fleet.

Video broadcast on local media showed the aircraft was severely damaged, as were a number of vehicles along the avenue where the crash took place.