Two people were injured and two others went missing when their small plane crashed into a river in southeastern Colombia on Friday, said the country's civil aviation authority.

The aircraft, which belongs to the Colombian company Aerolineas Llaneras, crashed into the Vaupes River at 13:20 local time (1820 GMT) en route from Mitu to Caruru, two neighboring municipalities in Colombia's southeastern province of Vaupes.

Jorge Diaz, director of the local civil defense department, said the pilot and one passenger managed to get out of the plane with injuries shortly after the accident, but two others onboard went missing and rescuers are now searching for them in the jungle area around the crash site.

The plane, a Cessna 206 type with the registration number of HK-2327, had four people on board when the tragedy occurred.