A light plane crashed into the ocean off the southern Big Sur Coast late Sunday afternoon.

Eyewitness John Galuzka reported that the plane was in the water at about 5 p.m. and sank at 5:16 p.m. as a Coast Guard helicopter from San Francisco Bay hovered overhead.

Galuzka reported seeing the rescue in progress from a vantage point at the base of Gorda Mountain south of Redwood Gulch and north of Soda Springs.