Debris found off Nantucket island after the air ambulance disappeared while flying from Bermuda to Boston.
Published On ۵ Oct ۲۰۲۶
The United States coastguard has suspended its search for six people on board a medical transport jet that crashed while flying from Bermuda to Boston.
“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Rear Admiral Matthew Lake, commander of the coastguard’s Northeast District, said in a statement on Sunday.
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The search was called off after teams spent about ۶۶ hours covering ۴,۴۴۵ miles (۷,۱۵۰km) by air and sea and confirmed that debris found off the shore of Massachusetts’s Nantucket Island came from the aircraft.
The Gulfstream G۱۰۰ carried two pilots, two medical staff, a patient and a relative, Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Canada-based Latitude Air Ambulance, told Canada’s public broadcaster CBC.
The four crew members were Canadian, and the two passengers were Bermudian, according to authorities.
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 ۱۰۴, are presumed to have died.”
Attention has turned to what happened in the jet’s final minutes, when flight-tracking data showed a steep descent and air traffic controllers struggled to re-establish contact.
Authorities have not determined what caused the aircraft to come down.
The aircraft had flown to Bermuda to collect the patient and was heading to Boston Logan International airport.
The US Federal Aviation Administration alerted the coastguard at about ۲am on Saturday (۰۶:۰۰ GMT) after contact with the jet was lost.
Lake said at a Sunday news conference that the water around the debris was about ۸۰ to ۹۰ feet (۲۴-۲۷ metres) deep.
He offered condolences to the families of those on board and thanked the agencies involved in the operation.
Latitude Air Ambulance specialises in medical evacuation and repatriation flights, carrying patients home from other countries.
The company says its missions are normally staffed by two pilots and medical personnel.
