Searchers have found debris confirmed to belong to a medical transport plane that vanished early Saturday with six people aboard during a flight from Bermuda to Boston, the US Coast Guard said, as crews worked through the night off the Massachusetts island of Nantucket.
"Search crews located a debris field confirmed to be from the aircraft off the coast of Nantucket," the Coast Guard said in a Saturday night update, adding that ships, helicopters and planes would continue searching through the night. The Federal Aviation Administration said it lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 jet just after 1 a.m. local time as it flew from Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport toward Boston's Logan International Airport.
The aircraft belonged to Latitude Air Ambulances, a company that flies patients home from abroad, and was carrying two pilots and two medical staff, all Canadian, who had traveled to Bermuda to collect a patient and a relative, according to Clarence Togeretz, the company's director of flight operations. Authorities have notified next of kin for the four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals on board.
"Are You Declaring an Emergency?"
Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft dropped sharply in altitude, from roughly 24,000 feet to about 11,000 feet, before its communications went dark. Radio transmissions captured by the tracking service LiveATC.net and reported by the Boston Globe showed confusion between air traffic control and the cockpit in the aircraft's final minutes.
"You're coming in blind? Is that what you said? Are you declaring an emergency, or no?"
Air traffic controller, in transmissions reported by the Boston Globe
The controller said the pilot's response was difficult to make out, but later confirmed that an emergency had been declared. An area fire dispatcher instructed emergency crews shortly after 1 a.m. to prepare for a plane reporting an "electrical issue," then said the aircraft had "lost radio and radar."
The Coast Guard said it expected to provide a further update Sunday morning as the search continued. No survivors had been located as of Saturday night, and officials have not said what might have caused the aircraft's rapid descent.
The Gulfstream had been due to land at Logan International at 1:30 a.m. Eastern time, according to tracking data from FlightAware, roughly two hours after departing Bermuda. Latitude Air Ambulances describes itself as a provider of international medical flights that bring patients home from abroad; Togeretz said the crew had flown to Bermuda specifically to collect the patient and the relative travelling with them, neither of whom was Canadian. The Coast Guard has not released the names of anyone on board pending notification of additional family members.
