LOS ANGELES — The search for nine people missing when a U.S. Coast Guard plane collided with a Marine Corps helicopter over the Pacific Ocean is now a recovery mission, officials said Sunday.
Petty Officer First Class Allison Conroy said there was little chance of finding survivors among the seven military personnel aboard the Coast Guard C-130 and the two in the Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter, which collided Thursday evening as the Coast Guard was searching for a missing boater.
The Marine helicopter was flying in formation with another Cobra helicopter and two transports on a nighttime training exercise.
The Coast Guard has begun its investigation into the cause of the crash, Conroy said.
Kenneth Claiborne, the father of one of the missing crew members on the helicopter, said Sunday that his son, Marine 1st Lt. Thomas Claiborne, 26, a Parker native, had been declared deceased. He declined to comment further.
Nine aircraft searched over a 644- square-mile patch of ocean in waters about 2,000 feet deep. Debris from both aircraft was found, but there was no sign of the crew members.
