A search is underway for six people reported missing after a Cessna 414 crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Sunday.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the U.S. Coast Guard received a report of the crash around 12:45 p.m. PDT and dispatched air and marine teams to an area about 3 miles west of San Diego’s Point Loma. They were joined by crews from Customs and Border Protection, San Diego Harbor Police, and the San Diego Lifeguard Service.
A debris field was found that afternoon in an area where the water is estimated to be about 200 feet deep.
No one had been located as of 11:30 p.m., a Coast Guard officer told the Times.
Authorities have not released the names or any other information about the six people believed to be on board.
Local resident Tyson Wislofsky told Los Angeles’ KNBC-TV that he was surfing off Point Loma when he heard the aircraft and thought it was doing stunts in the air.
“I saw him come down at an angle. He wasn’t flying straight to the ground,” Wislofsky said. “The next time he came out of the clouds, he went straight into the water. Full throttle.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.
