The Spanish Ministry of Defence confirmed that a pilot has died after a military plane crashed into the sea near a beach in La Manga, Spain.

The video above shows the Spanish Air Force C-101 nosedive direct into the sea in La Manga.

The incident reportedly happened by 9:40 AM on August 26, 2019.

According to the Spanish Ministry of Defence, an emergency search operation was carried out right away.

11.07. h. Prosigue la búsqueda del tripulante del avión accidentado. NO ha sido localizado aún. Imagen de la zona tomada desde helicóptero HE010. pic.twitter.com/hD6OVsNZfa

— 112 Región de Murcia (@112rmurcia) August 26, 2019

The Ministry added they recovered the dead body of the pilot, who has been identified as Commander Francisco Marin Núñez.

Jose Miguel Luengo, the mayor of San Javier, confirmed the incident and confirmed that the crash happened in a sea near La Manga.

The La Manga beach, where the crash happened, is famous for tourists.

Emergency hotline numbers received over 100 calls after the incident happened, this forced the services to launch an emergency search and rescue operation for the pilot.

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Minutes after the plane nosedived into the sea, a strong smell of gasoline and the debris of the aircraft started to wash up on the shore of the beach.

Commander Francisco Marin Núñez was conducting a training flight for the Air Force Academy when the incident happened.

The Civil Protection is investigating what caused the plane to crash.

Authorities in Spain have launched an investigation.