Copter Carrying O.C., Pendleton Marines Crashes : Military: Four people are missing and four suffered burns in crash off African coast. Training mission involved personnel from Tustin air base.

Four people were missing Sunday after a Marine Corps helicopter carrying 18 Marines from Tustin and Camp Pendleton crashed at sea off the Somalian coast, a Marine spokesman said.

The helicopter was a CH-46E Sea Knight on a training mission en route from the Gulf of Arabia to Mombasa, Kenya. It was carrying Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is composed of personnel from Camp Pendleton and the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station.

Search and rescue teams found 14 survivors, four of whom suffered burns in the crash, Bentley said. The names of those involved were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

“Other than the flight crew, most are probably from Camp Pendleton,” said Lt. Kevin Bentley, a Marine Corps spokesman.

The crash occurred at 9:30 a.m. Somalia time (11:30 p.m. Saturday Pacific Standard Time) in deep waters about 60 nautical miles off the Somalia coast in northeast Africa.

While the cause of the crash is under investigation, Bentley said that a fire was involved.

Last month, one Marine was killed when another CH-46E Sea Knight was forced to land in the Pacific Ocean about three miles off Carpinteria. In that incident, the helicopter’s engine apparently caught fire before it went down, authorities said.

“Every helicopter goes through a rigorous maintenance routine,” Bentley said. “We wouldn’t fly them if we didn’t think they were safe.” However, he said that in the future the Marine Corps will be considering replacing or updating helicopters of medium-lift capability, like the Sea Knight.

Meanwhile, the search for survivors continues. “We will make every effort to recover survivors or victims,” Knight said.