A biplane dead from an airfield in a Ural mountains, apparently stolen by a commander and his celebration buddies for a fishing outing or a revisit to a bathhouse, investigators pronounced on Tuesday.
The An-2 biplane, that was tasked with monitoring wildfires, over from an airstrip nearby a city of Serov in Sverdlovsk segment on late Monday but contacting a atmosphere control, a Investigative Committee pronounced in a statement.
The disappearance was reported by a second commander and a moody attendant who took a brief outing to Serov, returning to find a aircraft gone, a news said.
Three cars were left during a airfield, a cabinet said, but identifying their owners. At slightest 7 people, including commander Khatib Kashatov and an unnamed airfield guard, might be on board, informal military said.
The group were apparently celebration and motionless to go fishing or fly someplace to revisit a banya, a form of Russian steam bath, military said.
Search for a craft was ongoing on Tuesday evening, with people purported to be on house not returning calls to their mobile phones, investigators said.