Search underway for six missing passengers from Cessna plane that crashed off San Diego coast
A search is underway after a small plane carrying six people crashed into the ocean off the coast of San Diego Sunday, authorities said.
A twin-engine Cessna 414 crashed around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, not long after taking off, about three miles west of Point Loma. Coast Guard officials said they found a debris field off the coast in an area where water is estimated to be about 200 feet deep.
The Coast Guard said on X that a Jayhawk helicopter, a fixed-wing aircraft, a cutter and two small boats were dispatched to search for survivors. First responders across multiple agencies scoured the area into the evening in search of survivors, though none had been located as of Monday.
A surfer who witnessed the plane tumbling out of the sky thought it was doing stunts, he told NBC Los Angeles.
"I saw him come down at an angle. He wasn't flying straight to the ground," said Tyson Wislofsky. "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 plane is owned by Optimal Health Systems, a nutritional supplement company based out of Pima, Arizona, about two and a half hours outside Phoenix, according to NBC.
The plane took off from San Diego International Airport and was headed for Phoenix, according to data from FlightAware.
The National Transportation Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.
The identities of the six people aboard the plane were not immediately known.
The crash comes less than a month after a small Cessna plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, killing six people.
With reporting from the Associated Press.
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