A search is underway for three people aboard a Navy contract plane that crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Southern California early Wednesday, officials said.
The Learjet crash was first reported shortly before 8 a.m. PT, about a mile southwest of San Clemente Island, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
A Coast Guard spokesman confirmed to CBS News that the crash involved a Navy contract aircraft that took off from Point Mugu, part of Naval Base Ventura County, about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed in a tweet Wednesday night that it is investigating the crash of Gates Learjet 36A. The names of the three missing men or their ties to the Navy were not immediately released.
US Coast Guard/Twitter
San Clemente Island, owned by the US Navy, is located about 80 miles west of San Diego.
Details of the crash were unclear. According to the Coast Guard, initial reports from the Navy’s Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility, which handles offshore air traffic control, indicated that an aircraft aboard the Learjet had an emergency and the aircraft was unable to return to the San Clemente Island runway. .
In addition to the Coast Guard and Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was also involved in the search effort.
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