Two military pilots were rescued after a fighter jet crashed into the San Diego Bay on Wednesday, local fire and rescue personnel confirm.
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A U.S. Navy spokesperson confirmed to local news outlet ABC 10 that the two crew members successfully ejected from an E/A-18 G Growler. The pilots were then rescued by a fishing boat after just a few minutes in the water.
They were later transferred to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection boat before being taken to the hospital, per the Coast Guard.
Navy officials said the crash occurred when the pilots were trying to land. Little more information about the crash has been made available at this time.
The Military Jet Reportedly Crashed Into the San Diego Bay While Attempting to Land
Local boat traffic in the Shelter Island Basin was limited to emergency vessels only following the crash, per Harbor PD. Kellogg Beach was also closed to aid in the emergency response.
Harbor PD was unable to answer more questions about the pilots or aircraft, as the Navy is leading the investigation, ABC 10 reports. However, they did say that while the main channel of San Diego Bay remains open, a large Coast Guard and Navy presence will remain until the debris field is cleared.
The crash of course comes less than a month after a military helicopter collided with a commercial airline flight just outside of Washington D.C.
American Eagle Flight 5342 was traveling from Wichita, Kansas, to D.C.’s Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29. The plane had almost reached the runway when, around 9 p.m. ET, it collided with an Army helicopter in midair. Both aircrafts plummeted into the freezing waters of the Potomac River. There were no survivors.
On Feb. 4, authorities announced that all the victims’ bodies had been recovered. The 67 killed included 60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines flight, as well as the three military personnel aboard the helicopter.