Officials said three people were killed and one is missing after the plane crashed into homes three kilometers from the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

Authorities who were trying to identify the dead believed that the two victims were a mother and child, said Maurice Luque, spokeswoman for the San Diego Fire Department. But the third victim was unidentified.

The pilot of the two-seat F-18 Hornet ejected safely with minor injuries, said US Marine Corps spokesman Stephen Paap, adding that the jet was on a training mission and carrying a single pilot at the time of the crash.

The student pilot was en route from the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, operating in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego, according to the spokesman.