Coast Guard suspends search for medical transport jet that left Bermuda with 6 people aboard

By Eduardo Cuevas, David Williams, Sharif Paget, Maria Aguilar Prieto, CNN

(CNN) — The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a medical transport jet and the six people on board that went missing near Nantucket after leaving Bermuda early Saturday, the agency announced Sunday evening.

The plane was flying at an altitude of 24,000 feet for more than an hour before it plunged 13,000 feet over two minutes, according to FlightAware data. Debris from the plane was later found off the coast of Nantucket, an island of Massachusetts around 30 miles south of Cape Cod, the Coast Guard said.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a search and rescue alert notice around 1:20 a.m. for the Gulfstream G-100, which departed from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda for Boston Logan International Airport, the FAA said.

The FAA reported losing contact with the aircraft early Saturday morning, the Coast Guard Northeast District said.

“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Rear Adm. Matthew Lake, the district commander, said in Sunday’s statement. “We express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by the tragedy and our gratitude for our partner agencies who helped support search efforts.”

Next of kin have been notified, according to the agency.

The Canada-based company Latitude Air Ambulance, the air medical transport provider, said late Sunday that the six people missing are presumed dead.

“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,” Latitude said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The provider said it would work with the US National Transportation Safety Board, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and other authorities on recovery efforts and the investigation into why the plane crashed.

The four-person plane crew had flown to Bermuda to collect a patient and their relative, Latitude Director of Flight Operations Clarence Togeretz told CNN’s newsgathering partner CBC.

The two pilots and two medical staff are Canadian, according to Togeretz. The two other people are Bermudian nationals, the Coast Guard said.

The plane, which took off just after 12:40 a.m. in Bermuda, was scheduled to land in Boston around 1:12 a.m., according to FlightAware.

Coast Guard crews and partner agencies searched 4,445 miles over the two days, the statement added.

Lake said earlier Sunday that the search area was “large and demanding” and that crews employed “fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, boats and cutters to search the area.”

The weather, as of Sunday, was favorable for search operations, according to Coast Guard Capt. John McTamney, chief of response for the Northeast District.

The Gulfstream plane was built in 1996, according to Canadian government records, and has been registered to Latitude Air Ambulance since 2018.

The company lost contact with the plane around 1:30 a.m. and notified the Coast Guard after it failed to land on schedule, Togeretz added.

CNN has reached out to Latitude for comment.

The company operates four of the Gulfstream G100 aircraft, along with Learjet 35A, Beech 1900-D and Falcon 900B aircraft.

“Latitude is relied on by hundreds of individuals every year to provide safe and reliable medical repatriation back to their homes from wherever they are in the world,” the company’s website says. “Each air ambulance flight is staffed with two pilots and medical team members that are fully trained and qualified to provide the necessary care to each patient.”

Past flights by the company’s planes have included 120 countries and every continent except Antarctica.

“My thoughts are with all those on board, as well as their families, loved ones, and colleagues, during this extremely difficult time,” Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s transportation minister, said in a social media post on Saturday.

The Bermuda government has been in contact with American authorities as well as the families of those on board, Premier David Burt said on social media.

“My thoughts are with everyone on board and their families during this deeply worrying time,” he said in a statement.

Former FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko explained that in addition to conducting grid searches and retracing the plane’s expected path, the Coast Guard can also track a missing aircraft through its Emergency Locator Transmitter, which automatically sends a distress radio signal after a crash.

“If an airplane ends up on the bottom of the ocean, it puts out a beep, and that’s another way that searchers can look for it,” Kolko told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday.

Air traffic controllers describe plane having issue before losing contact

Air traffic controllers got word that a Boston-bound air ambulance was having some sort of issue before losing contact with the plane early Saturday morning, according to audio recorded by LiveATC.net.

“Roger, you said you’re coming in blind. Is that what you said?” the air traffic controller is heard asking in the audio.

“Are you declaring an emergency or no?” the controller then asked.

No response from the aircraft was audible in the recording as the controller made repeated attempts to reestablish contact.

The controllers then asked another airplane flying in the area to look for the medical transport jet and to try to contact it by radio.

The aircraft did not arrive at Boston Logan as scheduled, according to Ben Crawley, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport.

“Our thoughts are with those on board and their loved ones as the search continues,” he previously said in an email to CNN.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Alexandra Skores and Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.