US authorities have found debris from a medical transport aircraft that went missing with six people on board while flying from Bermuda to Boston, Massachusetts.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told the BBC that it lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 shortly after 1:00am local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday.
The US Coast Guard said the search for survivors was continuing off the coast of Nantucket, a Massachusetts island.
“Search crews located a debris field confirmed to be from the aircraft off the coast of Nantucket,” the Coast Guard said in an update on Saturday night.
It said ships, helicopters and aircraft were involved in the search, which would continue through the night. The Coast Guard is expected to provide a further update on Sunday morning local time.
Authorities have notified the next of kin of all six people on board. They included four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals.
According to flight data from FlightAware, the aircraft departed from Bermuda’s LF Wade International Airport at 11:40pm local time. It was scheduled to arrive at Boston’s Logan International Airport at 1:30am EDT (05:30 GMT).
The aircraft’s tail number, released by the Coast Guard, shows that it belonged to Latitude Air Ambulances, a company that operates international medical flights for patients returning home.
Clarence Togeretz, the company’s director of flight operations, told CBC News that two pilots and two medical staff were among those on board, all of them Canadian.
The crew had flown to Bermuda to pick up a patient and the patient’s relative, who were not Canadian, Togeretz said.
FlightAware data showed that the aircraft experienced a significant drop in altitude before communications were lost. It descended from around 7,300 metres (24,000 feet) to about 3,300 metres (11,000 feet).
Radio transmissions also indicated communication difficulties between the pilot and an air traffic controller, according to the Boston Globe, which reviewed transmissions provided by LiveATC.net.
“You’re coming in blind? Is that what you said?” the air traffic controller asked, according to the Globe. “Are you declaring an emergency, or no?”
The pilot’s response was inaudible.
“You’re coming in a little weak so I didn’t hear what your response was, if you were declaring an emergency or not,” the controller said.
The air traffic controller later confirmed that the pilot had declared an emergency.
Just after 1:00am EDT, an area fire dispatcher asked emergency crews to prepare to receive a plane reporting an “electrical issue”. The dispatcher later said the aircraft had “lost radio and radar”.
The cause of the incident has not yet been established, and the search operation was continuing off Nantucket.
