Airplane debris is recovered
The collision was reported at 5:45 p.m. by the pilot of a third plane who saw the planes crash into the sea, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.
“One of the planes was a Cessna 172 from Long Beach Airport,” Gregor said. “We do not know where the other craft departed from.”
U.S. Coast Guard, Long Beach Fire Department and Los Angeles Police Department vessels were dispatched to the scene to search for possible survivors.
Jackawa Jackson, a spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department, said that divers would be sent in to search the waters “when it is safe to do so.”
Fire Department searchers discovered the debris roughly an hour after the collision.
“The debris is scattered across a large area of water from 93 to 115 feet deep,” Jackson said.
“We do not know how many victims were on board,” he said.
– Louis Sahagun
SAN BERNARDINO
Kidnap suspects are identified
Authorities on Monday identified two men they believe kidnapped 3-year-old Briant Rodriguez from his San Bernardino home along with a woman they describe as a “person of interest” in the case.
The suspects, Liberato Vega, 30, and Israel Ledesma Moreno, 28, may be in Mexico and warrants have been issued for their arrest, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodie Miller. Both are illegal immigrants who have been deported before.
Vega’s girlfriend, Claudia Acosta-Serrano, 21, is also wanted for questioning, Miller said.
Briant was kidnapped on May 3 after the two men ransacked the home, tied up his family and took him away at gunpoint. He was found in Mexicali, Mexico, last Thursday and reunited with his mother Saturday.
No motive for the kidnapping has been established. Sheriff’s investigators and the FBI said Monday that they had not ruled out a possible narcotics connection but did not elaborate. Neither of Rodriguez’s parents are suspects.
– David Kelley
VERNON