Marine Helicopter, CG Plane Collide

LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were searching for as many as nine people off the Southern California coast following a collision between a Coast Guard plane and a Marine Corps helicopter, officials said.

A pilot reported seeing a fireball near where the aircraft collided, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The crash was reported at 7:10 p.m., about 50 miles off the San Diego County coast and 15 miles east of San Clemente Island, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Allyson Conroy said.

Cpl Michael Stevens, a spokesman for the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, confirmed an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter had gone down, but he had no further information. He said it belonged to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at Camp Pendleton.

The Coast Guard informed the FAA that debris from a C-130 had been spotted, Gregor said. Seven people were on board the C-130 and two people were aboard the helicopter, Gregor said. The C-130 is a long-range surveillance and transport, fixed-wing aircraft that is used to perform a variety of missions.

The Coast Guard said it sent three cutters and diverted an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to the area to search for survivors, while the Navy sent four vessels and multiple helicopters.

Earlier this week, it was an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter that collided with a UH-1 helicopter over southern Afghanistan, killing four American troops and wounding two more, a Marine spokesman said.

San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the eight Channel Islands located 68 nautical miles west of San Diego. The Navy has owned and trained at San Clemente Island since 1934, according to the island's Web site. Naval Air Station, North Island is responsible for the island's administration.