US authorities are racing against time to find six people after an air ambulance flying from Bermuda to Boston in Massachusetts disappeared early on Saturday morning. The plane was carrying a patient who was being flown home for treatment, a relative, and a four-member medical flight crew.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told the BBC that it lost contact with the aircraft, a Gulfstream G-100, and issued a search-and-rescue notice just after 1:00 am local time. Since then, planes and boats have been combing the waters off the coast of Nantucket, an island in Massachusetts. The US Coast Guard's Northeast District confirmed that an air and water search is underway.
The flight that never arrived
According to flight data from FlightAware, the plane took off from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda at 23:40 local time on Friday night. It was expected to land at Logan International Airport in Boston at 1:30 am Eastern time. That never happened.
In the hours that followed, the Coast Guard released the tail number of the missing aircraft. It showed that the plane belongs to Latitude Air Ambulances, a company that flies sick and injured people back to their home countries when they need medical care after falling ill or getting hurt abroad.
Who was on board
Clarence Togeretz, the director of flight operations at Latitude, spoke to CBC News about the people on the plane. He said the two pilots and two medical staff were all Canadian. The crew had flown to Bermuda to pick up a patient and a relative travelling with them. Togeretz said the two passengers are not Canadian.
Put together, that makes six people on the plane: two pilots, two medical workers, the patient and the patient's relative. The names of the people on board have not been made public, and the condition of the patient has not been shared.
A sharp fall in altitude
One of the most worrying details comes from FlightAware's tracker. The data shows the aircraft dropped sharply in altitude before its communications went dark. The plane fell from around 24,000 feet (about 7,300 metres) to 11,000 feet (about 3,300 metres).
It is not yet known why the plane lost height so quickly. Aviation experts usually warn that early flight tracking data can be incomplete, and that it should not be used to reach conclusions about what happened. Investigators will need to study radar records, radio communication and, if the plane is found, the wreckage itself.
Search over air and sea
The area being searched is off Nantucket, a popular island south of Cape Cod. The waters around it can be tricky for rescuers. The Atlantic is wide and open there, currents can move objects far from where they first landed, and the night hours make it harder to spot anything on the surface.
When a plane goes missing over water, search teams normally use both aircraft and vessels. Planes and helicopters cover large areas quickly from above, while boats can move in closer to inspect anything that has been spotted. This is what the Coast Guard says it is doing in this case.
The Coast Guard has not said how many aircraft and boats are involved. It also has not said whether any wreckage or other sign of the plane has been found, and no such report had been confirmed at the time of writing.
What air ambulances do
Many people do not think about air ambulance flights until they or a relative need one. Companies like Latitude Air Ambulances provide an important service. When a person falls sick or is injured while travelling, a normal commercial flight is often not safe or practical. A medical jet, staffed with trained pilots and health workers, can carry the patient home with the right equipment and care on board.
These flights often take place at night, as this one did, because patients may need to be moved quickly. The crews fly across borders and time zones, and they are used to long and tiring shifts. It is a demanding job, and the loss of contact with one of these aircraft is a heavy blow to the whole aviation and medical community.
Families waiting for news
For the families of the six people, the hours since the plane went missing must have been painful. Searches like this can go on for many hours or days, and relatives are often left with little information while rescuers work.
Officials have promised to continue the search, and more details are expected as the day goes on. The FAA, the Coast Guard and the company are all likely to release more information once they have verified it.
What happens next
If the aircraft is found, investigators will try to understand what caused it to lose altitude and contact. In the United States, accidents involving aircraft are normally investigated by safety authorities, who study the flight records, the weather, the condition of the plane and the actions of the crew. Because Canadians were on board and the plane belongs to a Canadian-linked company, authorities in more than one country may also take an interest in the findings.
Until then, many questions remain unanswered. Why did the plane drop so fast? Why did it stop communicating? Where exactly did it go down, if it did? Only a thorough search and later an investigation can answer these.
For now, the message from the search teams is simple: the work continues. People in the area who have seen anything unusual in the water or sky off Nantucket are usually urged to contact the Coast Guard immediately.
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