Coast Guard suspends search for six missing on Bermuda-to-Boston medical flight

The US Coast Guard has suspended its search for six people aboard a Canadian-registered air ambulance that disappeared during a nighttime flight from Bermuda to Boston, authorities said Sunday. The Gulfstream G100 was carrying four Canadians and two people from Bermuda when contact was lost over the Atlantic Ocean. The Federal Aviation Administration alerted the Coast Guard at about 2 a.m.

Saturday. Search crews covered more than 4,400 miles over 66 hours, using fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, boats and cutters. The Coast Guard worked with the New York National Guard’s Air Rescue Wing and Massachusetts authorities.

A debris field was found off the coast of Nantucket, according to Rear Adm. Matthew Lake, commander of the Coast Guard’s northeast district. The water in the area was between 80 and 90 feet deep.

“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Lake said in a statement, offering condolences to the families and thanking partner agencies involved in the operation. The aircraft had departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda, according to airport operator Skyport.

Air traffic control audio indicated that the pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency as a storm approached. The pilot may also have said the aircraft was “coming in blind”. Preliminary tracking data showed the plane descending from about 24,000 feet to around 10,000 feet before it vanished.

Mary Schiavo, a former Transportation Department inspector general and aviation attorney, said a loss of navigational instruments during the storm could have caused disorientation. That possibility has not been established as the cause of the disappearance.