Six people dead after plane crashes into the ocean off San Diego
A pilot repeatedly signalled the “mayday” distress call before a horror crash that killed all six people on-board.
Six people were killed when their small plane crashed into the ocean off San Diego on Sunday, authorities said.
The twin-engine Cessna 414 went down roughly 5km west of the southern California city at 12.30pm local time, shortly after take off, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA said everyone on board the doomed aircraft had been killed.
Debris from the crash was found near the Point Loma neighbourhood in water about 60 metres deep.
The pilot had told air traffic controllers he was struggling to climb in the moments after taking off, according to Live ATC audio.
The controller urged the pilot to climb to 4000 feet (1200m) after he reported the plane was only about 1000 feet (300m) in the air. The controller then directed him to land at a nearby US naval airport, according to the audio.
Moments later, the pilot repeatedly signalled the “mayday” distress call before controllers lost radar contact.
A man who was out surfing when the plane went down told NBC 7 that he saw the aircraft plummet at an angle, then climb 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,” witness Tyson Wislofsky said.
The plane was en route to Phoenix, Arizona at the time, according to data from the flight-tracking website Flightaware.com.
The names of those on board weren’t immediately released by authorities.
The plane was apparently owned by Arizona-based vitamin and nutritional supplement maker Optimal Health Systems.
But the company said it had sold the plane to a group of private individuals in 2023, although it knew some of those on board at the time of the crash.
“We personally know several of the passengers on-board and our sincerest condolences are offered to those affected by the tragedy, all of whom are incredible members of our small community,” the company’s founder, Doug Grant, said in a statement.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
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