Search And Rescue Operations Underway After Medical Plane Plunges 10,000 Feet Before Losing Contact

The U.S. Coast Guard launched a search Saturday for a medical transport aircraft that lost contact while flying from Bermuda to Boston with six people on board.

The aircraft is a Gulfstream G100 operated by Latitude Air Ambulance of Hamilton, Ontario. It departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda at about 11:41 p.m. Friday and was scheduled to land at Boston Logan International Airport.

Airport operator Skyport said four crew members and two passengers were aboard at departure. Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude Air Ambulance, told Agence France-Presse that the flight was carrying two pilots, two medical staff, one patient, and a family member. He also told NBC News that the plane was conducting a medical evacuation from Bermuda.

BREAKING REPORTS: Boston-bound plane carrying six people goes missing after 'losing contact' with FAApic.twitter.com/zIhQOvUcGJ

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The Federal Aviation Administration said it issued a search-and-rescue alert notice for the aircraft at 1:20 a.m. Eastern time Saturday and is coordinating with the Coast Guard and the Rescue Coordination Center.

In a statement, the Coast Guard stated that the FAA notified the agency that contact had been lost around 2 a.m. Flight-tracking data cited by CBS News indicated the aircraft took off at about 11:40 p.m., remained airborne for roughly one hour and 45 minutes, and showed a descent from about 24,000 feet to about 11,000 feet before contact was lost.

The scheduled arrival time at Boston Logan International Airport was about 1:30 a.m.

The search area is off the coast of Nantucket. Reported assets include aircraft and a helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod, a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Station Brant Point on Nantucket, and the fast-response cutter USCGC William Sparling.

As of mid-morning Saturday, the Coast Guard said updates would be issued as information became available. No sightings have been reported as of this report.

“We always get rather concerned when our crew doesn’t report to us in a timely manner,” Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude, told NBC News. “But I will say that again, optimistically and positively, that doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.” He said the company had an emergency response plan in place “absolutely for anything that might occur to any of our missions,” and that it had contacted search-and-rescue and law-enforcement services.

Latitude Air Ambulance operates a fleet of medical evacuation and repatriation aircraft, including Gulfstream G100s.

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