Coast Guard suspends search for 3 people after aircraft crash off San Clemente Island

Salvador Hernandez
·1 min read
JULY 17, 2013. SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND, CA. A U.S. Navy destroyer cuts a circuitous path during a training exercise off the east coast of San Clemente Island. This view from the Stone Station high point on the 21-mile long island looks north. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
July 2013 view of the east coast of San Clemente Island. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday for three people who were aboard a U.S. Navy contractor's aircraft that crashed Wednesday into the water off San Clemente Island, officials said.

Coast Guard officials, along with the Navy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection searched the suspected crash site of the Phoenix Learjet, but no survivors had been found since the plane plunged into the Pacific Ocean at about 7:55 a.m.

Search crews on Wednesday found a debris field about a mile southwest of the Navy-owned San Clemente Island, where the Phoenix Learjet is believed to have crashed, sparking a search for the three people on board. Crews searched 334 square miles, officials said.

The identities of the three people have not been confirmed.

A spokesperson for Naval Base Ventura County said the nonmilitary contract passenger aircraft departed from Naval Air Station Point Mugu and lost contact with air traffic controllers about a mile from San Clemente Island, located about 65 miles off the coast of San Diego.

The small aircraft is used for shuttle flights, but officials have not said where it was headed.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.