A twin-engine transport aircraft, Cessna 414, carrying six people, crashed in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of San Diego, California on Monday as the US Coast Guard and other rescue teams launched a search operation, news agency Reuters reported.
Quoting the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the report said that the plane crashed on Sunday at around 12:30 pm off the coast of the Point Loma peninsula.
Coast Guard officials said that the depth of water below the debris field is around 200 feet. Meanwhile, the FAA and the US National Transportation Safety board have launched an investigation into the cause that led to the crash.
The search for the six people, who were yet to be identified, continued.
Reports suggest that the owner of the plane is vitamin and nutritional supplement manufacturer Oprimal Health Systems. The Arizona-based company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, it added.
An eyewitness, who was surfing in the sea when the plane crashed, told NBC 7 that he saw the plane plummet at an angle, then fly back into the clouds before diving again and crashing into the water.
“The next time he came out of the clouds, he went straight into the water. But after I saw this splash, about six seconds later, it was dead silent. I knew that they went in the water, nose first, at a high speed,” the Associated Press quoted the eyewitness as saying.
The latest incident has come weeks after another small Cessna aircraft crashed into a San Diego neighborhood amid foggy weather, claiming six lives.
With agency inputs
