Urgent search underway after plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean south of San Francisco near Half Moon Bay

Officials have not revealed how many passengers were on board at the time of the crash  

An airplane crashed into the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean after ‘flying erratically’ near an airport south of San Francisco Sunday evening, authorities said.

Sgt. Philip Hallworth of San Mateo County Sheriff´s Office said crews were searching for the plane that went down in Half Moon Bay around 7:15 p.m..

Officials have recovered some wreckage, reports ABC San Francisco, but there is still no word on possible survivors. It’s not clear how many people were on board at the time of the crash.

The crash occurred a few miles from the Half Moon Bay Airport on the Cabrillo Highway, Hallworth said. The airport is located in Moss Beach, about 22 miles south of San Francisco.

The U.S. Coast Guard, California Highway Patrol and fire crews also responded to the crash site.

One witness described the plane as ‘kind of big’ adding that she heard the engine ‘puttering’ before the crash. In a report by CBS San Francisco, the plane was said to be a two-propeller plane.

An airplane crashed into the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean after ‘flying erratically’ near an airport south of San Francisco Sunday evening

A rescue efforts continued into the night in San Francisco following the crash

There was no immediate information about the number of people on board the plane

‘We were having dinner out on the patio, and we heard this motor engine puttering — like you hear in the movies, when a plane is about to crash. And you hear the engine, and it came around the corner. It’s kind of a big plane, very visible,’ witness Melissa Richter told the ABC affiliate.

‘We figured something was wrong, because it was so close to the restaurant. And then, it was definitely pivoting back and forth, and then it looked like it put on the gas, went a little bit faster, then it went down and the engine cut out. Then it banked in, and we lost sight of it at that point,’ she added.

Videos broadcast from local media show a rescue helicopter hovering over the waters close to San Francisco.

NBC San Francisco reports that the visibility in the region was poor Sunday night.