Search continues for 8 missing after Marine craft sinks

Helicopters and boats ranging from inflatables to a Navy destroyer were headed into a Saturday search for eight people missing after their Marine landing craft went down in hundreds of feet of water off the Southern California coast.

“Literally every asset we have available“was searching for seven Marines and a Navy corpsman, Lt. Gen. Joseph Osterman, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said late Friday.

They were aboard an amphibious assault vehicle that was heading back to a Navy ship Thursday evening after a routine training exercise when it began taking on water about a half-mile from Navy-owned San Clemente Island, off of San Diego.

Other assault vehicles quickly responded but couldn’t stop the 26-ton, tank-like vehicle from quickly sinking, Osterman said.

“The assumption is that it went completely to the bottom” several hundred feet below, Osterman said. That was too deep for divers to reach and the Navy and Coast Guard were discussing ways to reach the sunken vehicle to get a view inside it, Osterman said.

Eight Marines were rescued from the water but one later died and two remained in stable condition at a hospital, authorities said.

All the Marines were attached to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at nearby Camp Pendleton. They ranged in age from 19 to early 30s and all were wearing combat gear, including body armor, and flotation vests, Osterman said.