LOS ANGELES - THE body of a 15-month-old girl was recovered on Tuesday from the charred rubble of a California home destroyed when a US military jet slammed into it, raising the accident's death toll to four.

Search teams found the toddler's body a day after the F/A-18 fighter crashed in the densely populated San Diego neighborhood of University City.

Two houses were destroyed and three others damaged in the crash, which claimed the lives of three generations of one family.

The pilot of the aircraft, which had been taking part in a training exercise and was approaching the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar when it crashed, ejected safely and landed in the grounds of a nearby school.

The four dead included a 36-year-old nurse, her infant daughters aged 15 months and two months, and the woman's mother, who had recently arrived in the United States from South Korea to assist looking after her grandchildren.

Authorities have not released the names of the victims but members of a local Methodist church identified the younger woman as Ms Yoon YoungMi, her two-month old daughter Rachel and her older child as Grace.

The woman's husband was at work when the crash occurred, reports said.

The South Korean Yonhap news agency reported the two adult victims were South Korean nationals.

Military officials blamed the crash on an equipment malfunction.

'We don't know exactly what was the cause of the problem he was having, and ... we will be conducting a thorough safety investigation to find that out,' Marine Corps colonel Chris O'Connor told reporters on Monday.

Mr Jason Widmer, a contractor working in the neighborhood at the time of the crash, said the pilot had reported a power failure on board the F/A 18, planes which are renowned for their reliability.

'The first thing he said to me, even before he said, 'I'm OK,' he said, 'I hope I didn't kill anybody.''

'He said he was powerless,' Mr Widmer said. 'He said he stayed with the bird as long as he could.' -- AFP