A Latitude Air Ambulance Gulfstream G-100 flying from Bermuda to Boston went missing with six people aboard. The US Coast Guard later said crews found a debris field confirmed to be from the aircraft.
US authorities searched Saturday for six people after a medical flight bound for Boston lost contact over the Atlantic, the BBC reported. The FAA said it lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 and issued a search-and-rescue notice just after 1:00 a.m. local time.
The aircraft left Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport at 23:40 local time and was due at Boston Logan at 1:30 a.m. EDT, the BBC said, citing FlightAware. The Coast Guard identified the operator as Latitude Air Ambulance. Clarence Togeretz, the company's director of flight operations, told CBC the crew included two pilots and two Canadian medical staff who had flown to Bermuda to collect a patient and a relative who are not Canadian.
NBC Boston later reported that the Coast Guard had found a debris field confirmed to be from the aircraft. The search for those on board was continuing. NBC said the six were four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals, and that next of kin had been notified. The cutter William Sparling was to search overnight after about 1,644 square miles had been covered.
FlightAware data cited by the BBC showed the aircraft dropping from about 24,000 feet to about 11,000 feet before communications ended. The registration cited by NBC Boston was C-GJRP.
The cause of the loss of contact has not been established. Search teams had not reported recovering survivors at the time of the latest Coast Guard account carried by NBC Boston.