Trainee lifeguards put to test as plane crashes into sea during competition

The small plane sits in the surf after it crashed into the sea just off Huntington Beach, California (Huntington Beach Fire Department/AP)

A lifeguard competition turned into a real-life rescue when a small plane crashed into the sea off southern California.

Corinne Baginski was at Huntington Beach to watch her 17-year-old daughter compete when she heard the aircraft hitting the water.