Plane with five aboard missing in Siberia, Russia says

(Reuters) -A plane with five people aboard, including two pilots, went missing in the deep forests of Siberia on Tuesday, Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said.

The Antonov An-2, a Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane aircraft widely used for agricultural and forestry purposes, issued distressed signals over the forests of Yakutia in far northeastern Russia, TASS news agency reported, citing the local emergency ministry’s office.

A search and rescue plane has been sent to locate the aircraft that was performing forestry aerial reconnaissance, Rosaviatsia said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

(Reporting Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Saad Sayeed)