US authorities are searching for six individuals after a medical aircraft bound for Boston went missing early Saturday morning.
The Federal Aviation Administration lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 and issued a search-and-rescue alert shortly after 1:00 a.m. local time (6:00 GMT), according to the BBC.
An extensive air and water search is underway off the coast of Nantucket, a Massachusetts island, per the US Coast Guard’s Northeast District.
Flight data from FlightAware indicates the aircraft departed Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport at 23:40 local time and was scheduled to land at Boston’s Logan International Airport at 1:30 a.m. EDT (06:30 GMT).
Based on the tail number released by the Coast Guard, the aircraft was registered to Latitude Air Ambulances, a company specializing in international medical flights for patients returning home.
Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude, told CBC News that the two pilots and two Canadian medical staff members were on board.
Togeretz said the crew had flown to Bermuda to retrieve a patient and a relative, neither of whom are Canadian.
FlightAware data shows the aircraft dropped significantly from approximately 7,300 meters (24,000 feet) to 3,300 meters (11,000 feet) before communications went dark.
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