Search continues after Latitude Air Ambulance aircraft disappears off US coast

US authorities are continuing a search for six people aboard a Latitude Air Ambulance aircraft that disappeared while conducting a medical repatriation flight from Bermuda to Boston, Massachusetts.

The Gulfstream G100 departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda late on 2 October and was scheduled to arrive at Boston Logan International Airport in the early hours of 3 October.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said contact with the aircraft was lost shortly after 01:00 local time while it was approaching the US coast.

The US Coast Guard subsequently confirmed that search crews had located a debris field from the aircraft off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Ships, helicopters, and aircraft have been deployed as part of the continuing search operation.

Six people were aboard the aircraft – two pilots, two medical crew members, a patient, and the patient's relative.

Latitude Air Ambulance's Director of Flight Operations, Clarence Togeretz, told Canadian media that the two pilots and two medical personnel were Canadian. The crew had travelled to Bermuda to collect the patient and accompanying relative for transport to Boston.

The aircraft was operated by Canada-based Latitude Air Ambulance, which provides international medical transport and repatriation services.

Reports citing air traffic control communications indicated that the crew experienced communications difficulties before contact with the aircraft was lost. An emergency was subsequently declared.

The cause of the incident has not been established.

Authorities said the next of kin of those aboard – four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals – had been notified.

The US Coast Guard said it would provide further information as the search operation continued.