Medical plane with 6 on board missing off Massachusetts coast

What the report says

US authorities were searching on Saturday for a medical aircraft with six people on board after it went missing on a flight from Bermuda to Boston, according to BBC World News. The Federal Aviation Administration said it lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 shortly after 1:00 local time, and the US Coast Guard said an air-and-water search was underway off Nantucket, an island near the Massachusetts coast.

Flight data cited by the BBC indicated the plane departed Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport late Friday night and was due to arrive at Boston’s Logan International Airport before dawn. The aircraft was identified by the Coast Guard’s tail number as belonging to Latitude Air Ambulances, a company that operates international medical transport flights.

A company representative told CBC News that the people aboard included two pilots, two medical staff and a patient plus the patient’s relative. FlightAware data also showed the aircraft dropped sharply in altitude before communication ended. The BBC reported that the search was continuing near Nantucket, with no confirmation in the available material about the aircraft’s condition or the fate of those on board. More generally, aviation emergencies of this kind often prompt coordinated search-and-rescue efforts across air and sea resources.