US Coast Guard Ends Search for Six After Medical Jet Vanished Off Nantucket

Debris recovered off Nantucket Island has been confirmed to come from the air ambulance that disappeared while traveling from Bermuda to Boston.

The United States Coast Guard said it had suspended the search for six people aboard a medical transport jet that disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston.

“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Rear Admiral Matthew Lake, commander of the Coast Guard’s Northeast District, said in a statement on Sunday.

The effort was called off after investigators and recovery teams had worked for about 66 hours, covering 4,445 miles (7,150 kilometers) by air and sea, and confirmed that debris found off the coast of Massachusetts’ Nantucket Island was linked to the aircraft.

Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Canada-based Latitude Air Ambulance, told Canada’s public broadcaster CBC that the Gulfstream G100 was carrying two pilots, two medical staff members, a patient and a relative.

Authorities said the four crew members were Canadian and the two passengers were Bermudian.

In a statement on Sunday, Latitude Air Ambulance said, “Given the information shared by authorities and the conclusion of the search-and-rescue phase, we must now face the heartbreaking reality that the four members of our Latitude team, our patient and the patient’s family escort, who were aboard Heartbeat 104, are presumed to have died.”

Investigators are now focused on the jet’s final minutes, when flight-tracking data showed a steep descent and air traffic controllers attempted to re-establish contact.

The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

The aircraft had flown to Bermuda to collect the patient and was en route to Boston Logan International Airport when contact was lost.

The US Federal Aviation Administration alerted the Coast Guard at about 2 a.m. Saturday, 06:00 GMT.

Lake said at a Sunday news conference that the water near the debris was about 80 to 90 feet (24 to 27 meters) deep.

He extended condolences to the families of those aboard and thanked the agencies that took part in the operation.

Latitude Air Ambulance specializes in medical evacuation and repatriation flights, transporting patients back to their home countries.

The company said its missions are normally staffed by two pilots and medical personnel.

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