LOS ANGELES — Authorities called off the search Saturday for survivors of a midair collision that sent at least one plane plunging into the ocean near the Port of Los Angeles and instead turned to hunting bodies and wreckage.
The active search for three missing people was suspended at 9:15 a.m. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will lead efforts using divers and sonar to recover additional wreckage, according to a U.S. Coast Guard statement.
Two men, ages 61 and 81, were aboard a plane that was seen on radar colliding with another aircraft flown by a 72-year-old woman around 3:30 p.m. Friday, officials said.
After reports of the crash, divers converged on an area about two miles outside a harbor entrance where they found wreckage and a pilot's logbook from one of the planes, Coast Guard Capt. Jennifer Williams said.
No one has heard from the other plane, authorities said.
Both planes had taken off from the nearby Torrance Airport, and both pilots were experienced, Williams said. All three people live in the nearby South Bay area. No names have been released.