Searchers have located a debris field off the coast of Nantucket from an air ambulance that disappeared over the Atlantic early Saturday with six people aboard, the U.S. Coast Guard said, as crews continued to scour the water through the night.
Four Canadians and two Bermudian nationals were on the flight, and their next of kin have been notified, the Coast Guard said in a statement, as relayed by The Independent in its coverage drawing on NBC News reporting. One Coast Guard cutter was expected to keep searching overnight and into Sunday.
The aircraft, a Gulfstream G100 jet, was flying from Bermuda to Boston when it lost contact with air traffic controllers very early Saturday morning, according to the Coast Guard, which cited the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA issued a search and rescue notice for the jet at 1:20 a.m. Eastern time, the agency said in a statement, and the Coast Guard said it was informed of the lost contact at 2 a.m.
What We Know So Far
The Canadian registered jet departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda on a nighttime flight with four crew members and two passengers, said Skyport, the airport’s operator. The plane was carrying out a medical evacuation, Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude Air Ambulance, told NBC News. Latitude, based in Hamilton, Ontario, owns and operates the aircraft and has flown medical missions since 2009, according to the company; its Gulfstream jets are outfitted with intensive care supplies and patient stretchers and can fly more than 3,000 miles.
Air traffic audio posted by LiveATC.net indicates the pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency as the jet neared the coast. Recordings from the Boston control tower obtained by NBC News appear to show controllers asking the aircraft whether it was “coming in blind.” “Roger, you said you’re coming in blind. Is that what you said?” a controller can be heard saying in the audio cited by The Independent. Controllers later asked another plane to attempt contact with the jet, though NBC News said it was unclear whether that attempt succeeded.
Preliminary data from the tracking site FlightRadar24 showed the plane dropping sharply from a cruising altitude of about 24,000 feet to roughly 10,000 feet. Emergency services audio obtained by NBC News showed vessels being asked to keep a sharp lookout for a possible aircraft in the water, and FlightRadar24 data showed several aircraft searching south of the island.
Mary Schiavo, a former Transportation Department inspector general who now works as an aviation attorney, said the audio suggests the plane may have lost its navigation instruments just as a storm crossed its path on radar. “It’s a terrible place to have a loss of your instruments and be flying blind,” Schiavo said, as quoted by The Independent.
What Officials Are Saying
Canada’s transport minister, Steven MacKinnon, said on the social platform X that Transport Canada was closely monitoring the situation and working with authorities on the search and rescue effort. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering information but did not immediately say whether it would open an investigation.
A spokesperson for Massport, which operates Boston Logan International Airport, told NBC 10 that the agency’s thoughts were with those on board and their loved ones. Bermuda Premier David Burt said in a statement that his thoughts were with everyone aboard and their families during what he called a deeply worrying time.
Why This Matters
Air ambulance flights over open water leave little margin for error when a crew faces equipment trouble, and the audio from Saturday’s flight, as described by NBC News and The Independent, points to a possible electrical or instrument failure combined with a severe weather system near the end of the route. Whether those factors caused the loss of the aircraft remains unconfirmed, and investigators have not yet stated a cause.
The loss also touches several countries at once, with a Canadian registered and owned aircraft, Canadian and Bermudian victims, a British overseas territory as the point of departure, and a U.S. destination and search area, a mix that typically means coordinated work among U.S., Canadian and Bermudian agencies.
What Happens Next
The Coast Guard said it would keep searching the water overnight and into Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether the NTSB would lead an investigation into the cause, and no timeline has been given for recovering any wreckage or identifying the victims publicly.
Further details are expected as the search continues and as aviation authorities in the United States and Canada review flight data and air traffic recordings.
Reporting drawn from The Independent, citing NBC News, with additional material from NBC News and NBC 10
