Debris confirmed from missing Hamilton air ambulance as search continues off Nantucket

Search crews have confirmed that wreckage found roughly 150 kilometres southeast of Boston belongs to a Hamilton-based air ambulance jet that vanished early Saturday with six people aboard.

Global News and the CBC reported Sunday that the U.S. Coast Guard identified a debris field from the missing Latitude Air Ambulance Gulfstream G100 after covering more than 2,800 square miles over about 53 hours. Rear Admiral Matthew Lake, Northeast district commander, briefed reporters that the search for the people on board continued even after the aircraft was matched to the debris. CP24, citing the Coast Guard, placed the field about 32 kilometres off Nantucket.

The jet, tail number C-GRJP according to multi-source flight tracking cited in Canadian coverage, was flying a medical evacuation from Bermuda to Boston when the Federal Aviation Administration lost contact around 1:20 a.m. ET Saturday. FlightAware data summarised by Global News showed the aircraft descending from about 24,000 feet to 11,000 feet near 1:05 a.m. before disappearing from public tracks. Air-traffic audio obtained by Global News captured a New York-area controller urging the crew to respond after an emergency declaration, then asking another flight whether the Latitude jet was visible on its radar — “No sir, I don’t see anything,” came the reply.

Clarence Togeretz, Latitude’s operations manager, told The Canadian Press the aircraft carried a patient and a family member plus two pilots and two medical staff. The four crew members are Canadian; the two passengers are Bermuda nationals. He said Saturday it was the first time the company had lost contact with one of its aircraft. Connecticut-adjacent search teams and Massachusetts Port Authority confirmed the jet never arrived at Logan. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said Ottawa was monitoring and working with authorities; Bermuda Premier David Burt said his government was in contact with families and U.S. searchers. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada told Global News it is “gathering information and assessing the occurrence.”

Capt. John McTammy of the Coast Guard said crews would keep saturating the area until they were confident any survivors still on the surface would have been found. Lake declined to speculate on what caused the operational failure. For families in Hamilton and Bermuda — and for a niche medical-aviation sector that rarely makes national headlines — Sunday’s debris confirmation turned a missing-aircraft drama into a recovery-focused tragedy still measured in hours of searching.

Sources: Global News; CBC News; CP24; CBC News (initial search).