The U.S. Coast Guard said on Saturday that it had found debris from a medical transport aircraft off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and was searching for the six people on board.
The jet lost contact with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during a flight from Bermuda to Boston on Saturday morning. In a statement to the Guardian, an FAA spokesperson said the agency issued an alert notice for a Gulfstream G-100 at about 1:20 a.m. local time on Saturday.
According to a statement from Skyport, the operator of Bermuda's airport, obtained by the Associated Press, the Canadian-registered medical aircraft departed Bermuda's LF Wade International Airport overnight carrying four crew members and two passengers for a flight to Massachusetts.
Four Canadians were on board, Canadian Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said, adding: "We are monitoring the situation closely and working with the relevant authorities as search-and-rescue efforts continue."
The other two passengers were Bermudian citizens, according to the Coast Guard. Searches were to continue through the night near Nantucket, an island community south of mainland Massachusetts.
Bermuda authorities have been in contact with U.S. officials and the passengers' families, Premier David Burt posted.
According to data from the flight-tracking site FlightAware, the aircraft, owned by Latitude Air Ambulance, left Bermuda at 12:41 a.m. Saturday. It maintained an altitude of 24,000 feet (about 7,300 meters) for most of the journey before descending to 13,000 feet within about two minutes just before air traffic controllers lost contact, the data showed.
Boston 25 television station aired audio from Boston Logan International Airport in which an air traffic controller can be heard asking the Gulfstream pilot: "You said you're inbound and you don't see anything? Is that correct?"
The controller then asked whether the aircraft was declaring an emergency. No response was heard.
Latitude is based in Ontario, Canada, and specializes in emergency medical transport services.
NBC News reported, citing Latitude's director of flight operations, Clarence Togeretz, that the aircraft was on a medical mission in Bermuda.
"We always get quite concerned when a crew doesn't report on time," he told NBC News. "But I have to say again, optimistically and positively, that it doesn't mean the worst has happened."
NBC also reported that the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Boston Logan International Airport, said the aircraft did not arrive on schedule. A port authority spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with those on board and their loved ones as the search continues."
The FAA is coordinating with the Rescue Coordination Center and the U.S. Coast Guard to locate the aircraft.
