Washington/Los Angeles  - Rescuers on Tuesday found the body of a child in the charred remains of a San Diego home and the F/A-18 fighter jet that crashed into it, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said.

Spokesman Maurice Luque said that the Medical Examiner's Office was confirming the identity as the baby missing since Monday's fiery disaster, which killed four people on the ground, all members of one family.

The US Marine Corps fighter jet appeared to lose all power as it attempted an emergency landing at the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, after taking off on a routine training exercise from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

The family was named as the Yoon family, originally from South Korea, who owned a wholesale supply business in San Diego. The two children were just 15 months and 2 months old. The newborn's remains were found Tuesday by firefighters who had been searching in teams with cadaver dogs, Luque said.

The mother and grandmother of the children also died. Their father was at work when the accident occurred.

The discovery of the body came amid growing scandal over the crash.

The Navy inspected hundreds of the Boeing-built aircraft in recent months after discovering "fatigue cracks" on more than a dozen F/A- 18s. It grounded a dozen planes and placed flight restrictions on more than 20 planes in November until repairs could be made, according to the Navy Times.

California Congressman Duncan Hunter, whose district includes the accident site, said in an emailed statement that initial investigations pointed to a power failure as the cause of the crash and that it was "likely unrelated" to the structural problems found in other F/A-18s.

The pilot managed to eject seconds before impact and landed safely in a tree. Described by witnesses as a young lieutenant in his 20s, he was trying to steer the jet into a nearby canyon when he plummeted into the tree-lined neighbourhood of single-family homes about 3 kilometres north-west of the airfield, reports said.

Three houses and four vehicles were destroyed by the impact, which sparked a huge fireball and covered the area in a pall of thick, acrid smoke. The plane was not carrying any munitions, but searchers were trying to locate a second ejector seat containing an explosive charge.

The plane had lost power from one engine soon after takeoff while the remaining engine appears to have cut out as the aircraft approached the airfield, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Navy and Marine Corps fly the F/A-18, which is the main aircraft for the Navy's Blue Angels air show squadron. Miramar, about 16 kilometres north of downtown San Diego, was featured in the 1986 hit film Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise. (dpa)