On Wednesday, a U.S. Navy jet crashed near the coast of San Diego, California, but both crew members were safely rescued.
San Diego fire department officials confirmed that they received a report at 10:16 a.m. local time on Wednesday that an aircraft had crashed near Shelter Island and had gone into the water. The department stated that the first rescue team arrived at the scene in less than 10 minutes.
The U.S. Coast Guard in San Diego confirmed to Fox News that a fishing boat rescued the two pilots and then transferred them to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Air and Marine Operations.
According to the Coast Guard, the two pilots have been taken to a local hospital and are currently in stable condition.
A Navy official told Fox News that it is still unclear whether a distress signal was issued before the crash, and the identity of the pilots has not been confirmed.
Local television station KGTV in Des Moines, Iowa, reported that on-site journalists witnessed the fighter jet taking off from the runway and then crashing into the water.
The fire department dispatched 60 personnel to the scene, and video footage shared on social media showed multiple rescue boats heading towards the area where the plane crashed.
The Coast Guard stated that the two Navy pilots successfully ejected and escaped in time, spending approximately one minute in the water. However, the wreckage of the aircraft remains in the water.
The U.S. Navy confirmed that the aircraft crashed during landing. It was an E/A-18G Growler, an electronic warfare variant of the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 fighter aircraft.
In a statement, the U.S. Navy said, “Naval Base Coronado has established an emergency action center to respond to this accident, and an assessment of the crash site is currently underway.”
The aircraft belonged to the Electronic Attack Squadron 135 (VAQ), and the cause of the crash is currently under investigation.