Six Presumed Dead After Medical Flight Disappears Off Massachusetts Coast

All six people who were on the medical transport aircraft that went missing on October 3, when it was bound for Boston from Bermuda, are presumed dead, according to a statement released by the flight's operator, Latitude Air Ambulance.

BBC quoted the statement released by the flight operator, in which they presumed the travellers to be dead. The statement said, "We must now face the heartbreaking reality that the four members of our Latitude team, our patient and the patient's family escort, who were aboard Heartbeat 104, are presumed to have died." The company further added, "Our thoughts are first and foremost with their families, loved ones, friends, and colleagues."

The Coast Guard on Sunday evening declared that they were ending the search off the coast of Nantucket, a Massachusetts island, after 66 hours of looking for the passengers, according to the BBC. "We express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones," the Coast Guard said on Sunday.

Earlier, Latitude Air Ambulance, which owned the missing plane, had informed the Canadian Press on October 3 that six people were on board. Four were Canadians—two medical personnel and two pilots—while the other two were natives of Bermuda, a patient and a family member.

The plane took off from Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport at 23:40 local time on Friday night and was scheduled to arrive at Boston's Logan International Airport at 01:30 EDT (05:30 GMT).

As the plane got close to the coast, the pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency, according to air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net.

In the audio, the controller can be heard asking the pilot, “Roger, you said you’re coming in blind. Is that what you said?” AP reported that the air traffic controller later confirmed the pilot was declaring an emergency just before losing contact with the plane.

FlightAware data showed the plane fell from around 7,300m (24,000ft) to 3,300m (11,000ft) before its communications went dark. The tracking data points to a sudden descent during the flight from Bermuda to Boston, BBC reported.

Premier David Burt of Bermuda, in a statement posted to X, expressed his condolences to the families of people who went missing. In his statement, he said, “My thoughts are with everyone on board and their families during this deeply worrying time. We are praying that all six people will be found safe, and we thank the search and rescue crews for their continuing efforts.”