Three bodies were recovered from the Pacific Ocean on Sunday by U.S. Coast Guard crews after a small twin‑engine Beechcraft aircraft crashed off the coast of California the night before. The crash occurred at approximately 10:55 p.m. PDT on Saturday, between 200 and 300 yards from Point Pinos near Monterey. Authorities reported that the plane had taken off from San Carlos Airport in the San Francisco Bay area and was carrying three people at the time of the incident. A large-scale search and rescue effort involving Coast Guard boats, helicopters, and local law enforcement began immediately after the crash, leading to the discovery of the first victim’s body at about 3 a.m. on Sunday.
The wreckage of the plane was located by a Cal Fire drone just before 6 a.m., enabling Coast Guard crews to recover the remaining two bodies at 6:31 a.m. and 9:08 a.m. The search was officially called off later on Sunday after covering 346 miles of tracklines across 100 square miles in a 13-hour operation. According to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the victims were identified as 60‑year‑old Steven Eugene Clatterbuck of Salinas, along with James Vincent, 36, and Jamie Lee Tabscott, 44, both from Monterey. The families of the victims expressed gratitude for the support they received from the community and requested privacy as they grieved. The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.