Nine missing in helicopter-plane collision off California (Roundup)

Oct 30, 2009, 15:32 GMT

Los Angeles - US ships and helicopters were searching Friday for nine people missing and feared dead after a collision between a Coast Guard plane and a Navy helicopter off California's coast.

The late Thursday collision took place some 40 kilometres from San Clemente Island off the Pacific coast of Los Angeles, with eyewitnesses reporting a ball of flame in the night skies.

'We continue to search with every asset we have available,' Coast Guard Captain Thomas Farris said at a morning news briefing.

The collision involved a C-130 plane with seven people on board and an AH-1 helicopter with two. The C-130 was reportedly conducting a search and rescue mission when the collision took place.

The Coast Guard crew members had survival gear onboard their aircraft, including exposure suits that could have allowed them to survive in the cold water for hours, Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said. 'We're hoping to find survivors,' he said. 'We're not ruling that out.'