Six people are presumed dead after the US Coast Guard on Sunday suspended its search for survivors of a medical transport plane crash off the coast of Massachusetts early the previous day. The aircraft, which was flying from Bermuda to Boston, lost contact with ground authorities at about 2am on Saturday, and the Coast Guard located a debris field near the island of Nantucket later that day. The patient and family member were identified as citizens of Bermuda.
The crew was identified as Canadian citizens. In its own statement, Latitude acknowledged the Coast Guard’s decision to suspend the search for those who were aboard what the company described as Heartbeat 104. Air traffic controllers had difficulty communicating with the flight in its final moments.
Is that what you said?” a controller asked the pilot at about 12.46am. The plane reported electrical failures as it neared Nantucket, according to radio transmissions. Data from the website FlightAware shows the plane descended thousands of feet within three minutes and disappeared from radar shortly after about 1am local time.
Latitude said it will “cooperate fully” with US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and other authorities on recovery efforts and an investigation into why the plane crashed.
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