US coastguard suspends search for six on board crashed medical jet

Debris found off Nantucket island after the air ambulance disappeared while flying from Bermuda to Boston.

US coastguard members search off Nantucket, Massachusetts, October 3, 2026, after debris from a medical transport aircraft was found [Handout/US Coast Guard via Reuters]

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 66 hours covering 4,445 miles (7,150km) by air and sea and confirmed that debris found off the shore of Massachusetts’s Nantucket Island came from the aircraft.

The Gulfstream G100 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 104, 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 2am on Saturday (06:00 GMT) after contact with the jet was lost.

Lake said at a Sunday news conference that the water around the debris was about 80 to 90 feet (24-27 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.

一架从百慕大飞往波士顿的空中救护车失踪后，在楠塔基特岛附近发现了飞机残骸。

2026年10月3日，美国海岸警卫队成员在马萨诸塞州楠塔基特岛附近海域搜寻，此前发现了医疗运输飞机的残骸。[图片由美国海岸警卫队通过路透社提供]

美国海岸警卫队已暂停搜寻一架从百慕大飞往波士顿途中坠毁的医疗运输飞机上的六名乘客。

“暂停搜寻并非易事，”海岸警卫队东北区指挥官马修·莱克海军少将在周日的一份声明中表示。

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搜寻工作在各队花费约 66 小时，通过空中和海上搜索了 4,445 英里（7,150 公里）后结束，并确认在马萨诸塞州南塔克特岛海岸附近发现的碎片来自这架飞机。

加拿大 Latitude Air Ambulance 的飞行运营总监 Clarence Togeretz 告诉加拿大公共广播公司 CBC，这架湾流 G100 飞机上载有两名飞行员、两名医务人员、一名病人及其家属。

据当局称，四名机组人员是加拿大人，两名乘客是百慕大人。

Latitude Air Ambulance 周日发表声明称：“鉴于当局分享的信息以及搜救阶段的结束，我们现在不得不面对令人心碎的现实，我们 Latitude 团队的四名成员、我们的病人以及病人的家属陪同人员，当时都在 Heartbeat 104 直升机上，据推测已经死亡。”

人们的注意力转向了这架喷气式飞机最后几分钟发生的事情，当时飞行跟踪数据显示飞机急剧下降，空中交通管制员努力重新建立联系。

当局尚未确定飞机坠毁的原因。

这架飞机飞往百慕大接病人，正前往波士顿洛根国际机场。

周六凌晨 2 点左右（格林尼治标准时间 06:00），美国联邦航空管理局在与这架喷气式飞机失去联系后，向海岸警卫队发出了警报。

莱克在周日的新闻发布会上表示，碎片周围的水深约 80 至 90 英尺（24 至 27 米）。

他向机上人员家属表示慰问，并感谢参与救援行动的各机构。

Latitude Air Ambulance 专门从事医疗救援和遣返飞行，将患者从其他国家运送回国。

该公司表示，其任务通常由两名飞行员和医务人员组成。