Search Underway for Missing Aircraft Near Nantucket

A search operation is in progress after a jet carrying six individuals disappeared off the Nantucket coast in Massachusetts. The aircraft was on a flight from Bermuda to Boston early Saturday morning.

The missing jet is a Gulfstream G100, a twin-engine model registered in Canada as G100 C-GRJP. Latitude Air Ambulance, an Ontario-based medical transport company, owns the aircraft, as per the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register.

Flightradar24, a real-time air traffic monitoring service, provided the last known location of the jet. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the flight carried six people, departing from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda and headed for Boston’s Logan International Airport. Passengers’ identities are not yet available, though Toronto’s City News quoted Clarence Togeretz, Latitude Air Ambulance’s operations manager, stating four crew members are Canadian, while two passengers are Bermuda nationals.

Newsweek reached out to Latitude Air Ambulance for comments. Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard Northeast confirms their active search with various resources for the missing jet. “Coast Guard air and surface crews are searching an area off the coast of Nantucket,” stated their spokesperson. Responding Coast Guard assets include:

• An HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod
• An HC-130 Hercules crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City
• An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod
• A 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew from Coast Guard Station Brant Point
• The Coast Guard Cutter William Sparling from Boston

FlightAware’s tracking data shows the plane left Bermuda at 11:41 p.m. ET, with its last radar signal received at 1:23 a.m. ET, right before its scheduled landing. Records indicate the aircraft plunged over 9,000 feet in two minutes.

The FAA issued a Search and Rescue Alert Notice (ALNOT) for the Gulfstream G-100 at about 1:20 a.m. local time, stated FAA public affairs specialist Rick Breitenfeldt to Newsweek in an email. Coordinations continue with the Rescue Coordination Center and the U.S. Coast Guard to locate the plane.

Benjamin Crawley, media relations specialist for MassPort, which manages Boston Logan International Airport, confirmed the aircraft’s failure to arrive as planned. “Our thoughts are with those on board and their loved ones as the search continues,” he concluded.