Plane Goes Missing in Russia

A plane with 28 people on board went missing in the Russian Far East region of Kamchatka on Tuesday, local officials said. An Antonov An-26 plane with 22 passengers and six crew members, flying from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the town of Palana, missed a scheduled communication, local emergency officials said. According to the local transport ministry, it also disappeared from radar, the AP reports. The plane belonged to a company called Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise.

An investigation has been launched, and a search mission is underway. Two helicopters and an airplane have been deployed to inspect the missing plane's route, local officials said. The plane was coming in for a landing when contact was lost about six miles away from Palana's airport. The head of the local government in Palana, Olga Mokhireva, was aboard the flight, spokespeople of the Kamchatka government said. (More Russia stories.)