Aircraft down: Offshore of San Diego - U.S. Navy helicopter

U.S. Navy helicopter down, offshore of San Diego.
Five persons onboard.

Update: 0600hrs - 3 confirmed dead, 2 still missing.

Coast Guard boats and aircraft scanned Pacific Ocean waters Wednesday for a Navy helicopter with five people aboard that crashed into the ocean about 13 miles south of San Diego, authorities said.

Operating off the coast of California, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz got word that the HH60 Seahawk helicopter went down during a training exercise at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lt. Candice Tresch, a Navy spokeswoman in Washington, said.

An 87-foot patrol boat and a pair of helicopters joined by San Diego Harbor police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were searching an area near the Coronado Islands off the northwest coast of Mexico for survivors, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy.

Dunphy said the Navy reported the crash shortly before midnight and sought help in the search for five survivors.

There was no immediate word early Wednesday whether any wreckage or survivors had been discovered.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photograph by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Timothy S. Smith.
Photo description: 14 April 1999 — An HH-60 Seahawk helicopter, attached to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Seven (HS-7, the "Dusty Dogs") and embarked on USS Enterprise (CVN 65), hovers in the foreground as two E-2C Hawkeyes attached to Airborne Early Warning Squadron One Two Six (VAW 126, the "Seahawks") fly over the carrier. Enterprise is currently deployed to the Arabian Gulf
Image source: http://www.aircav.com/dodphoto/dod99/sh60-004.html