Breaking: 6 missing as plane crashes into ocean

Authorities are investigating the crash of a small aircraft that went down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Sunday, leaving six people missing.

The twin-engine Cessna 414 had departed shortly before 12:30 p.m. and was en route to Phoenix when it crashed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Flight tracking data from FlightAware confirmed the aircraft’s destination.

Search crews located a debris field later that evening roughly five miles off the coast of Point Loma, a San Diego peninsula known for its dramatic ocean cliffs. Coast Guard officials noted that the search area lies in waters approximately 200 feet (61 meters) deep.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed all six individuals on board were unaccounted for as of their last update. Identities of those on board have not yet been released.

Eyewitness Tyson Wislofsky, who was surfing nearby, recounted the harrowing moments leading up to the crash in an interview with NBC 7 San Diego.

“I saw the plane come down at an angle, then climb back into the clouds,” Wislofsky recalled. “The next time he came out of the clouds, he went straight into the water. After the splash, about six seconds later, it was dead silent. I knew they went in nose first, at high speed.”

This latest crash comes less than three weeks after a similar Cessna aircraft tragically crashed into a San Diego neighborhood during foggy weather, also claiming six lives.