(Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:17 p.m. EDT Wednesday.)
Rescue crews have suspended their search for the three people aboard a Navy contractor’s aircraft, which plunged into the Pacific Ocean about a mile southwest of a Navy-owned island off the coast of San Diego, U.S. officials said Thursday.
The U.S. Coast Guard said its crews along with Navy, Air Force, and Customs and Border Protection searched a combined 334 square miles around San Clemente Island Wednesday after the Phoenix Air Learjet went down that morning.
Rescue crews found the wreckage of the aircraft early Wednesday and immediately launched a search for the occupants.
The Learjet used by the contractor departed from the Ventura County area, said Drew Verbis, spokesperson for Naval Base Ventura County on the coast northwest of Los Angeles.
Watchstanders at the Joint Harbor Operations Center in San Diego received the initial report of a downed aircraft at 7:53 a.m. from the Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility on San Clemente Island, according to a press release from Coast Guard District 11. The FACSFAC reported that the aircraft didn’t make it back to the runway.
A Navy Phoenix Lear jet crew was in the area and began immediately searching the debris field, according to the release. They were quickly joined by MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew from Coast Guard Sector San Diego and Customs and Border Protection aircraft. The amphibious transport dock San Diego diverted after hearing the emergency broadcast and began searching the area as well.
The Air Force then joined the search as well.
The identities of those aboard have not been released.
— Navy Times staff contributed to this report.
