Seabed search planned after air ambulance vanishes off Massachusetts
US authorities are continuing a large-scale search for an air ambulance carrying six people that disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston. Crews found a debris field near Nantucket and are preparing to use sonar in waters about 24 to 27 metres deep, while officials update relatives.
Search and rescue crews continued working off the Massachusetts coast on Sunday after an air ambulance carrying six people disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston, the US Coast Guard said. The Federal Aviation Administration alerted the Coast Guard at about 2am on Saturday after losing contact with the Canadian-registered Gulfstream G100 over the Atlantic. The aircraft was carrying four Canadians and two Bermudian nationals, including four crew members and two passengers, according to Skyport, the operator of Bermuda’s L.F.
Wade International Airport. Searchers found what authorities described as a debris field off Nantucket later on Saturday. Coast Guard crews, the New York National Guard’s Air Rescue Wing and Massachusetts authorities have searched an area covering 7,356 sq km using fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, boats and cutters.
Coast Guard Northeast District Rear Admiral Matt Lake said the search area was large and demanding. The water around the debris field is approximately 24 to 27 metres deep, and the Coast Guard was preparing to deploy sonar to examine the seabed. Officials said weather had not hindered the operation.
Coast Guard Captain John McTamney said crews would continue searching the area until they were confident that any survivors still on the surface would have been located. The Coast Guard has also been providing the aircraft occupants’ next of kin with updates on the operation. Air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net indicates the pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency shortly before the aircraft vanished.
A controller asked whether the pilot was “coming in blind”, while preliminary FlightRadar24 data showed the aircraft descending from about 24,000 feet to roughly 10,000 feet. Mary Schiavo, a former US Transportation Department inspector general and aviation lawyer, said the aircraft may have lost navigational instruments as a storm approached. Her comments were an assessment, not an official explanation of the disappearance.
Canada’s transport minister, Steven MacKinnon, said Transport Canada was closely monitoring and supporting the search and rescue effort.
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