8 STILL MISSING AFTER PLANE CRASH.

Byline: John Howard Associated Press 

Rescuers hunted Saturday for survivors of the crash of an Air Force Reserve rescue plane that plunged into the icy, shark-infested Pacific Ocean with 11 people on board.

One man was rescued Friday night, shortly after the Oregon-based CH-130 Hercules went down about 60 miles west of Cape Mendocino.

Helicopter crews returning to base Saturday morning reported seeing a 40-foot section of one wing and a piece of the plane's nose. Two bodies were pulled from the 52-degree water after dawn Saturday, leaving eight men unaccounted for.

The crews also reported seeing a number of sharks prowling the area.

``We saw several sharks,'' said Coast Guard Lt. Craig Breitung, pilot of the chopper that found the survivor Friday night. ``They weren't great white sharks, but they were sharks. We are always concerned about predators in cases like this.''

Coast Guard Commander Kevin Marshall, at the McKinleyville Coast Guard station, said the survivor, Technical Sgt. Robert Vogel, 31, of Albany, Ore., was spotted clinging to a seat cushion by a Coast Guard helicopter crew using a powerful searchlight and night vision goggles.

Coast Guard Airman George Cavallo went into the water to help Vogel.

``We sent a rescuer into the water,'' Marshall said. ``He (Vogel) was holding a seat cushion. We put a collar around him and then we hoisted both of them up.''

Officials at Mad River Community Hospital in nearby Arcata allowed photographers into the intensive care unit to take pictures of Vogel, who had a bandage on his right arm and cuts on his hands and face.

Although he didn't speak to reporters, another airman in the room said Vogel had told him, ``Thanks to the Coast Guard for rescuing me.''

His fiancee, Sherry Vaughan, who also lives in Albany, arrived at the hospital Saturday afternoon after flying in from Oregon. She gave Vogel a kiss on the cheek but did not speak to reporters.

Rescuers said Vogel had managed to get into a cold-water survival suit, but it had ripped and filled with water.

Vogel, a senior industrial engineering major at Oregon State University, was in fair condition Saturday, according to Susan Donovan, assistant nursing supervisor. She declined to discuss his injuries.

Marshall said the rescue crew reported Vogel was suffering from ``multiple injuries.'' He told rescuers he had not seen any other survivors.

Vogel called the Coast Guard Station on Saturday morning from the hospital.

``He was very coherent,'' Marshall said. ``He sounded very good. He wanted to thank us.''

Several Coast Guard vessels, including the 110-foot cutters Sapelo and Edisto from Eureka and the 180-foot buoy tender Buttonwood from San Francisco, and a Navy destroyer, the Stethem, joined the searchers, along with aircraft from several bases.

Rescuers also found three rafts at the crash site, about 200 miles north of San Francisco.

The plane went down shortly after the crew reported one of its four propeller engines had shut down and they were having trouble with another, said Col. Rick Davis, the commander of the 939th Rescue Wing's 304th Rescue Squadron in Portland, Ore., the plane's home base.

After that, the crew reported complete electrical failure, he said. Radio contact was lost about 7:30 p.m. and wreckage was found 90 minutes later.

Marshall said the plane was heading to North Island Naval Air Station near San Diego from Portland. There was some confusion over which direction the plane was headed because it apparently tried to turn back before it crashed, the Coast Guard explained.

Two chaplains were called in to counsel families of the crew members.

The plane was on a training mission, Davis said. The squadron is often pressed into duty to help civilian authorities in mountain rescues and other emergencies in the Pacific Northwest.

The unit had helped with mountain rescues in the Portland area, including the 1986 rescue of OrRegon Episcopal School climbers lost in a blizzard on Mount Hood, said Karole Scott, a spokeswoman for the rescue unit.

Members of the unit also participated in rescues following the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

The HC-130 is a variant of the C-130, a workhorse as a military cargo and search-and-rescue airplane. The plane has a wingspan of 130 feet and four turboprop engines.

Skies were cloudy and winds in the area were light when the accident occurred, the Coast Guard said. Visibility was reported at 12 miles Saturday with 5-foot seas.