Two people were killed and one injured after an apparently stolen warhead from a surface-to-air missile exploded at a scrap yard in the Siberian city of Chita, Russian media reported Thursday.

A criminal investigation was opened into the "illegal acquisition and storage of explosive device" after two warheads from a S-200 Angara missile were found at the blast site.

Local authorities said it appeared that the warhead had detonated while workers were cutting it down for scrap metal.

Law enforcement officers at the scene reported the find to the Defense Ministry.

The S-200 Angara is a long rage, medium-to-high altitude surface-to-air missile system designed in the Soviet Union in 1967, and no longer used by the Russian army.

Selling weaponry for scrap is not unusual in remote Russian regions. Last month the National Guard in the Kaliningrad region reported discovering World War II shells at a local scrap yard.