Debris spotted from missing Ontario air ambulance

Debris from a missing Ontario air ambulance that had been carrying six people, including four Canadians,
has been spotted off the coast of the United States.

The U.S. Coast Guard said search crews found a debris field roughly 150 kilometres southeast of Boston and confirmed it belonged to the missing aircraft.

Crews searched an area more than 2,800 square miles over the course of the last 53 hours, Rear Admiral Matthew Lake, U.S. Coast Guard Northeast district commander, said in an update to the media Sunday.

The search for the missing passengers remains ongoing.

The frantic search began after the Federal Aviation Administration lost contact with the plane early Saturday as it travelled from Bermuda to Boston.

The FAA told Global News in a statement it issued a Search and Rescue Alert for a Gulfstream G-100 around 1:20 a.m. Saturday.

The flight was scheduled to arrive in Boston around 1:30 a.m.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Boston Logan International Airport, confirmed to Global News in an email that the aircraft did not arrive as scheduled.

According to data from Flight Aware, the plane took off around 11:40 p.m. Friday. Data shows the aircraft slowing down as it dropped from 24,000 feet to 11,000 feet around 1:05 a.m. before losing contact.

Air traffic control audio obtained by Global News shows operators having difficulty connecting with the aircraft prior to its disappearance.

“If you can hear me, at your discretion, please send me anything … please call now …I understand that you have declared an emergency,” a controller asked the pilot.

A few minutes later the controller asked the pilot of a commercial flight in the area if they could see the flight on their radar.

“No sir, I don’t see anything,” the pilot responded.

Lake said Sunday he would not speculate at this time what led to the operational failure.

The aircraft, a Gulfstream G100 jet, belongs to Latitude Air Ambulance, a Hamilton-based medical evacuation company.

Clarence Togeretz, operations manager for Latitude Air Ambulance, told The Canadian Press that the missing aircraft was transporting a patient and their family member, with two pilots and two medical staff on board.

The four crew members are Canadian, he said, while the two passengers are Bermuda nationals.

Lake said the search for the missing passengers continues.

“We’ll continue to search and saturate the area until we’re at the point where we are confident that if there were any survivors remaining on the surface of the water, we would have found them,” he said.

Togeretz said Saturday the company is “dealing with the situation with as much positivity and optimism as we can.”

“We’re praying for a safe outcome,” he said.

Global News reached out to Togeretz again after the debris was located but he declined to comment.

“At this time we are just not making any comments and once we are we will let you know,” he said.

The operations manager previously said this is the first time Latitude Air Ambulance has lost contact with one of its planes.

The company offers emergency medical transportation by plane worldwide, according to its website.

John Gradek, an aviation expert at McGill University, said Latitude Air Ambulance “fly high quality, good maintenance airplanes, and are very reliable,”

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon wrote on social media that the government is closely monitoring the situation and working with authorities as the search continues.

“My thoughts are with everyone on board, as well as their families, loved ones and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time,” he wrote.

Bermuda Premier David Burt wrote in a statement that the government is in contact with the families of those on board and U.S. searchers.

Ontario’s air ambulance service provider Ornge reacted to the news of the missing plane on Saturday, writing in a social media post that it hopes “the aircraft and all passengers are located safely and quickly.”

Togeretz said Latitude Air Ambulance is in contact with Transport Canada. Global News reached out to the federal agency for comment but was directed back to the Minister’s statement.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada told Global News in an email it is “gathering information and assessing the occurrence.”

– With files from The Canadian Press