VLADIVOSTOK, December 20. /TASS/. A group of rescuers has arrived in the settlement of Klyuchi in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula to look for the missing An-2 plane, and has already departed to the search area.

"On the morning of December 20, a ground team of rescuers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky arrived in the settlement of Klyuchi and has already departed to the An-2 search area on all-terrain vehicles," the press service of the Russian emergencies ministry’s Kamchatka office said.

Two helicopters with rescue teams are ready to depart from regional search and rescue offices if weather conditions permit. Earlier, one more helicopter with rescuers took off from a rescue station in the village of Milkovo.

The search effort is hampered by foul weather, blizzards and low clouds. It was interrupted on Thursday night due to low visibility and poor weather.

The An-2 airplane with two crew members and one passenger was transporting 800 kg of commercial cargo on the Milkovo - Ossora route. It took off at 9:45 a.m. local time (12:45 a.m. Moscow time) on Thursday. At 1:00 p.m. (4:00 a.m. Moscow time) an emergency sensor was triggered. No contact was made with the aircraft at its scheduled landing time.