The aircraft, a C-130 Hercules transport plane -- manufactured by Lockheed Martin -- crashed after veering off the runway at El Alto International Airport on Friday, destroying multiple cars and damaging trucks.

Authorities have not yet revealed the number of people on board, nor have they said if anyone survived the incident, but they have announced that rescue efforts are over.

Fatalities were recorded both at the airport and on the busy avenue where the plane crashed.

"We have 22 people dead," including four children, national police chief Mirko Sokol told reporters, adding: "Only nine of them have been identified... because we have bodies that were completely mutilated."

Defense Minister Raul Salinas has said that the plane had eight crew members, one of whom was killed.

The government of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz said that the cause of the incident was not yet known, and that a probe had been opened. Witnesses have cited bad weather.

"This investigation cannot be resolved overnight," Salinas told a press conference, adding that officials needed to recover the plane's black boxes.

Mangled parts of the aircraft were seen on the road where the plane came down and bystanders could be seen rushing to grab the scattered cash, prompting police to deploy tear gas to repel them.

Authorities were later seen setting the money alight in a bonfire at the scene of the crash.

The defense ministry said that "the money transported in the crashed aircraft has no official serial number... therefore it has no legal or purchasing power."

Bystanders attempted once again Saturday to access the site, but police fired more tear gas.