Search continues for service members

SAN DIEGO >> The search continued Saturday for eight U.S. service members missing after their landing craft went down in hundreds of feet of water off the Southern California coast following a deadly accident.

Helicopters and boats ranging from inflatables to a Navy destroyer were searching a roughly 200-square-mile area for seven Marines and a Navy corpsman.

They were aboard an amphibious assault vehicle that had just completed a training exercise when it began taking on water about a half-mile from Navy-owned San Clemente Island, off San Diego.

The 26-ton, tanklike craft quickly sank in hundreds of feet of water — too deep for divers — making it difficult to reach.

One of eight Marines rescued from the water later died.

All of the Marines aboard were attached to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at nearby Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego.

They ranged in age from 19 to early 30s, and all were wearing combat gear, including body armor and flotation vests, Lt. Gen. Joseph Osterman, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said last week.

The craft was one of 13 amphibious assault vehicles that participated in the routine exercise and was heading back to a Navy ship when the accident happened.

Troops on board two other amphibious assault vehicles responded quickly but couldn’t stop the sinking, Osterman said.

The vehicle, nicknamed an “amtrac” — short for “amphibious tractor” — was designed to be buoyant and had three watertight hatches and two large troop hatches.