No Americans among six aboard, source says
Officials believe a Canadian-registered air ambulance jet with six people aboard rapidly descended 7,500 feet before hitting the water off Nantucket, Massachusetts, early Saturday, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation cited by ABC News. Citing the same source, ABC News also reported there were no Americans among those aboard and that the identities of those on the plane were not immediately released.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a search-and-rescue alert for the Gulfstream G-100 at about 1:20 a.m. local time Saturday after the aircraft lost contact with the agency during an overnight flight from Bermuda to Boston, an FAA spokesperson told The Guardian.
The aircraft, operated by Latitude Air Ambulance, had four crew members and two passengers aboard when it departed Bermuda’s LF Wade International Airport overnight for Boston, according to a statement from the Bermuda airport’s operator, Skyport, obtained by the Associated Press. NBC News, citing Clarence Togeretz, Latitude Air Ambulance’s director of flight operations, reported that the plane was carrying out a medical evacuation in Bermuda.
“We always get rather concerned when our crew doesn’t report to us in a timely manner,” Togeretz told NBC News. “But I will say that again, optimistically and positively, that doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.”
The Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Boston Logan International Airport, confirmed the aircraft did not arrive as scheduled, NBC News reported. A port authority spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with those onboard and their loved ones as the search continues.”
The Coast Guard said in a statement posted to X that the search area as of Saturday morning was off the coast of the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and that air and surface crews had been launched in search of the aircraft. The FAA said it is coordinating with the Rescue Coordination Center and the U.S. Coast Guard to locate the aircraft.