US Coast Guard ends search for crash victims

The US Coast Guard has suspended its search for six people who were aboard a medical transport aircraft that crashed off the coast of Massachusetts’ Nantucket Island.

The aircraft was carrying four Canadian citizens and two people from Bermuda. It was travelling from Bermuda to Boston’s Logan International Airport when it went down over the Atlantic.

The Coast Guard said it located debris from the aircraft late Saturday and conducted an extensive search the following day using aircraft and vessels. Despite the operation, rescuers were unable to locate any survivors.

The aircraft was a Gulfstream jet operated by Canadian air medical transport company Latitude Air Ambulance. Flight tracking data showed that it departed Bermuda shortly after midnight on Saturday.

An air traffic control recording reportedly captured a controller at Boston’s Logan Airport asking the pilot whether the aircraft was declaring an emergency. No response was received.

Latitude Air Ambulance said the four crew members, the patient and the patient’s family escort aboard the flight are now presumed dead. The company described the situation as heartbreaking.

The Coast Guard said suspending a search was a difficult decision following the completion of the search-and-rescue phase.

Latitude said it would cooperate with the US National Transportation Safety Board, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and other authorities. Recovery efforts and an investigation into the cause of the crash are expected to continue.