Navy helicopter with five aboard crashes off San Diego coast

SAN DIEGO — Coast Guard boats and aircraft scanned Pacific Ocean waters today for a Navy helicopter with five people aboard that crashed into the ocean about 13 miles south of San Diego, authorities said. Operating off the coast of California, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz got word that the SH60 Seahawk helicopter went down during a training exercise at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Lt. Candice Tresch, a Navy spokeswoman in Washington. A Navy helicopter, three boats and a helicopter from the Coast Guard and boats from the San Diego Harbor police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection were searching an area near the Coronado Islands off the northwest coast of Mexico for survivors, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy. Dunphy said the Navy reported the crash shortly before midnight and sought help in the search for five survivors. There was no immediate word early today whether any wreckage or survivors had been discovered.

File – A United States Navy Seahawk helicopter approaches the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of Indonesia in this Thursday Jan 13, 2005 file photo. The Coast Guard says a Navy helicopter, similar to the one shown, with five people aboard crashed into the ocean 13 miles south of San Diego near the Coronado Islands shortly before midnight Tuesday May 19, 2009. There’s no word on whether any wreckage or survivors have been discovered. Andy Eames / AP Photo ——- CNN is reporting the following (get CNN updates here): (CNN) — Three members of a U.S. Navy helicopter crew were killed after their helicopter went down in the waters off San Diego, California, a Navy spokeswoman said Wednesday. Rescuers are still searching for the two remaining crew members from the helicopter, which went down late Tuesday night, U.S. Navy spokeswoman Karin Burzynski said. The helicopter was conducting training activities 20 miles off the coast of Mexico before the crash, the Navy said. Coast Guard helicopters and boats, as well as vessels from other agencies, were helping in the search, said Henry Dunphy, a Coast Guard spokesman.