Six people were aboard the air ambulance flying from Bermuda to Boston when controllers lost contact with the aircraft.
NANTUCKET, MA — The U.S. Coast Guard found debris from a medical evacuation jet that vanished over the Atlantic while flying from Bermuda to Boston, as search crews continued looking for the six people who were aboard the aircraft.
The debris field was found off Nantucket and confirmed to be associated with the missing Gulfstream G100, according to the Coast Guard. Four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals were aboard the jet. Their next of kin have been notified. The discovery shifted the search to an increasingly urgent effort to locate the people who had been traveling aboard the medical flight.
The Canadian-registered aircraft was operated by Latitude Air Ambulance and had departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda for Boston Logan International Airport. The flight was carrying four crew members and two passengers. The company’s operations manager told news organizations that the crew consisted of two pilots and two medical staff members and that the passengers were a patient and a family member.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a search-and-rescue alert for the Gulfstream at about 1:20 a.m. Saturday after air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft. The Coast Guard said it was notified at approximately 2 a.m. and began deploying aircraft and surface vessels to waters off Nantucket. The medical jet never reached Boston Logan as scheduled.
Air traffic control recordings provided additional information about the flight’s final communications. A controller can be heard trying to clarify a transmission indicating the aircraft was “coming in blind.” The pilot also reported an electrical problem and declared an emergency before contact was lost, according to air traffic control audio reviewed by news organizations. Authorities have not announced what caused the aircraft to disappear, and no official determination has been made about what happened in its final minutes.
Preliminary flight-tracking information showed the aircraft had been traveling at about 24,000 feet before descending sharply as it approached the Massachusetts coast. The jet dropped thousands of feet over a short period before tracking information ended. Such flight data can help investigators reconstruct an aircraft’s path, but officials had not announced a cause for the rapid descent.
The search brought together several Coast Guard air and surface units. Resources deployed during the operation included aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod and Air Station Elizabeth City, a helicopter from Cape Cod, a motor lifeboat from Station Brant Point and the Coast Guard Cutter William Sparling. Air National Guard aircraft also joined the operation as crews searched a wide area of the Atlantic.
The Coast Guard said crews had searched 1,644 square miles over approximately 27 hours by Saturday night. The William Sparling was assigned to continue searching through the night and into Sunday. Officials had not reported finding any of the six people aboard as of the latest Coast Guard update.
The disappearance prompted responses in both Canada and Bermuda. Canadian Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said four Canadians were among those aboard and that Canadian officials were working with authorities involved in the search and rescue operation. Bermuda officials said they were in contact with the families of those aboard and with overseas authorities coordinating the response.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering information about the disappearance but had not immediately announced whether it would open an investigation. The Coast Guard’s immediate mission remained the search for the six people aboard the aircraft, with crews continuing operations after the debris field was confirmed.
Author note: Last updated October 4, 2026.