By EFE
Aug 25, 2023, 11:32 AM EDT
WASHINGTON – A combat plane has crashed near a US Marine Corps base in San Diego, California, that branch of the Armed Forces reported in a statement on Friday.
The plane, a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet designed to be shipped on aircraft carriers, crashed at 11:54 p.m. local time on Thursday (0654 GMT on Friday), near the Marine base in the Miramar neighborhood of San Diego.
After the accident, the search began for the pilot who was on board the aircraft, whose current status is unknown.
According to the statement from the Marines, the Miramar military base has not suffered damage from the plane crash.
The Miramar base is home to the Third Wing of the Marine Corps, the main aviation unit of that body on the US West Coast.
Some 15,000 people -among the military and their families- live in the San Diego area because they work at that base, details the website of the base itself.
The plane that crashed was not part of that Third Marine Corps Wing and was flying nearby in the same timely manner, the Marine Corps said in its statement.
The crashed plane is distinguished by being capable of carrying air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles and a host of other weapons, as well as being capable of flying at a speed of more than 1,900 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 12 kilometers.