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SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- A grandmother, mother and young child died when a military fighter jet crashed into a house in San Diego, California, on Monday, igniting a huge fireball, authorities said.

Another child is missing, officials said. A search ended at nightfall Monday but will continue Tuesday morning, a representative for the medical examiner said.

The father is a businessman who was at work at the time of the crash and was not reached for comment, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The F/A-18D plane, which authorities described as disabled, was trying to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The jet had just performed landing training on a Navy aircraft carrier before the pilot reported having trouble, according to the Marine Corps. See satellite photo showing crash site, airfield »

"It was, oh gosh, maybe a couple of hundred feet off the ground. And it was quiet -- I think the engine was off," said San Diego resident Ian Lerner, who was heading to lunch at a shopping center about a half-mile from the neighborhood of about 20 homes when he saw the jet flying low. iReport.com: See Lerner's photos

"Then all of a sudden, we saw the canopy of the jet explode and go up, and then we saw the pilot blast out of the plane and the parachute open," Lerner said.

Another witness said the jet was flying at a low altitude, and "just spiraled, right out of [the movie] 'Top Gun.'" Watch witnesses describe the scene »

The house was destroyed. A photograph taken at the scene showed the pilot, who ejected safely, sitting on the front lawn, making a call on his cell phone. He was taken to the hospital, the Marine Corps said in a written statement Monday. Watch burning debris near crash site »

The pilot, whose name was not released, was the only occupant of the two-seat aircraft, according to the Marine Corps.

The Union-Tribune spoke with Steve Diamond, a retired naval aviator, who said he found the pilot in a tree behind a house. He told the paper he helped the man, who Diamond said was a lieutenant in his 20s, down from the tree.

The pilot told him that after he lost power in one engine, it was decided he would try to get the jet to Miramar on the single working engine, Diamond told the paper.

The pilot was in communication with military air traffic controllers before the jet crashed, and the crash site is about two miles from the airfield, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the pilot ejected moments before the crash and landed without injury in a tree about two miles from Miramar. Jason Widmer said he talked to the pilot, who said he had tried to steer the jet from the homes and into a brushy canyon.

He was pretty shook up and pretty concerned if he had killed anyone," Widmer told San Diego 6. "He had seen his bird go into a house."

A retired general, a pilot who has flown for 40 years and more than 270 missions in Vietnam, said the decision to eject is up to the pilot. F/A-18D planes are very dependable, but any aircraft is given to error.

That model has two engines, and it can operate with one engine fine. But if one engine malfunctions, it's possible that a blade can break off and fly into the other engine, causing it to malfunction, too. If both engines are inoperable, and the plane descends below 10,000 feet, it's likely the pilot will soon lose control.

When the pilot pulls a ring-like lever between his legs, a series of automatic actions is set off: The pilot's harness comes loose, and he is pushed through a canopy, which is rigged to facilitate him breaking through it without causing injury. A pilot can opt to manually activate his parachute, but if he doesn't, the parachute will open on a timer.

The plane would crash randomly once the pilot is no longer in control.

Burning debris scorched two additional homes, and a piece of the jet struck another home. "This could have wiped out half a dozen homes, depending on how it landed," said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. See photos of fiery crash site »

Inside one of those houses, Robert Johnson sat in his living room with his daughter, Heather Certain, and her 2-year-old son, Nicholas, according to the Union-Tribune. They heard the explosion, then saw a giant fireball in the picture window facing their front yard, the newspaper reported. They ran out of the house. Watch aerial footage of crash site »

"The house shook like an earthquake," Johnson said. "I saw the flames right there in front of my house."

iReporter Chris Morrow of San Diego said she went to the crash site Monday and saw "two houses that looked like they'd blown up."

The Marine Corps said it is investigating what went wrong with the plane. The military has jurisdiction over the crash site. iReport.com: Smoke rises from fiery crash

The State Department called on Iran on Friday to pony up any information it has on a former FBI agent who vanished there last year.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged Tehran to share "any and all information" about Robert Levinson, who disappeared from Iran's Kish Island over 19 months ago.

"The U.S. Department of State remains committed to determining Mr. Levinson's whereabouts, and returning him safely to his family that includes seven children, one grandchild and a second grandchild on the way," McCormack said in a statement.

Senior administration officials say the United States is increasing pressure on Iran to provide information on Levinson's whereabouts. Several officials have said they suspect Iranian authorities are holding Levinson in a jail inside the country.

However, they stress they have no information confirming their suspicions and have consistently voiced frustration with the lack of developments in the case.

"Some people suspect he is being held by the Iranian government, but nobody knows that for a fact, or we would be saying that," one senior State Department official said. "We all agree the Iranians are not putting forth 110 percent effort to find this man."

Levinson is a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs, Florida. After leaving the agency, his wife says, he worked as a security consultant specializing in cigarette smuggling.

Last week, Undersecretary for Political Affairs William Burns, the State Department's third-ranking official, met with Levinson's family, and earlier this fall, the State Department sent a diplomatic note to Tehran through the Swiss government, which represents the U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of an American diplomatic presence in the country.

In September, Christine Levinson flew to the United Nations in New York to ask questions about her husband.

She sought a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was at the United Nations for the U.N. General Assembly. But Ahmadinejad declined to meet with her.

Last year, she traveled to Iran to try to retrace her husband's steps. Back then, Iranian officials told her they would investigate and report back to her. She still hasn't heard a word.

The State Department and FBI have denied he was working for the government and has demanded that Iran free Levinson -- if it is holding him.

Levinson says her husband suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure and has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to his safe return.

Last year, CNN reported that Levinson met with Dawud Salahuddin, an American fugitive who lives in Iran, shortly before his disappearance.

Salahuddin -- known in Iran as Hassan Abdulrahman -- converted to Islam and was given refuge in Iran after admitting in interviews to killing Ali Akbar Tabatabai, a former Iranian diplomat under the shah, in Maryland in 1980.

Salahuddin said he was detained by Iranian officials in plain clothes and taken away from the room he shared with Levinson to be interrogated about his Iranian passport.

When he was freed the next day, he said, he was told by officials that Levinson had returned to Dubai.

Senior administration officials have told CNN that they think Salahuddin met with Levinson, but do not believe him to be a credible source of information on Levinson's whereabouts.

McCormack said the State Department is trying to keep the public aware of the case in the hopes of finding a fresh clue about Levinson's whereabouts.

"We're always looking for ways to maybe break loose that vital piece of information or the vital lead that may help us," McCormack said.

He asked anyone with information about his case to contact the State Department or the Levinson family via their Web site.