The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for six people who were aboard a medical transport jet that disappeared off the coast of Nantucket, Mass., in the early hours of Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, ending an effort that spanned more than 66 hours and 4,445 square miles of open ocean.
“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Rear Adm. Matthew Lake, commander of the Coast Guard Northeast District, said in a statement released Sunday, Oct. 4. Lake extended condolences to the families and loved ones of those affected and thanked the partner agencies that assisted in the search.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notified the Coast Guard at around 2 a.m. Saturday that contact had been lost with the Gulfstream G100 twinjet, which was flying from Bermuda to Boston. Officials said the aircraft vanished from FAA radar shortly before it was due to land.
Who Was on Board
The six people aboard included four Canadian nationals — two medics and two pilots — along with a Bermudian patient and a relative of the patient, according to the Coast Guard and Latitude Air Ambulance, the Canadian company that owns the aircraft. The patient was being flown from Bermuda to Boston for medical care.
Latitude Air Ambulance provides medical transfers to and from health care facilities, and the jet is registered to the company. Next of kin of those aboard have been notified, the Coast Guard said.
The Jet’s Final Minutes
The aircraft departed Bermuda at 12:42 a.m. Saturday. Four minutes later, an air traffic controller pressed the pilot on what he had just reported. “You’re coming in blind? Is that what you said?” the controller asked, according to control recordings. The controller then asked whether the pilot was declaring an emergency, but the pilot’s reply was inaudible.
According to air traffic control audio posted on LiveATC.net, the pilot had reported electrical problems as the jet approached the coast. Radio transmissions reviewed by reporters also reportedly indicated an electrical issue aboard the aircraft.
FlightAware tracking data showed a rapid descent beginning at around 1:04 a.m., with the jet dropping from roughly 24,000 feet to 11,000 feet in about three minutes. At around 1:12 a.m., a Massport Fire Rescue dispatcher told emergency crews to stand by for the plane, which was expected in Boston within about 15 minutes, and told them the aircraft had lost radio and radar. The FAA issued a search-and-rescue alert at around 1:20 a.m.
Debris Found Off Nantucket
Coast Guard crews searched by air and by sea while agencies worked to pin down the aircraft’s last known position. On Saturday night, debris from the air ambulance was spotted floating in the ocean, and the Coast Guard confirmed that the debris field was associated with the missing jet. All six people aboard remained unaccounted for after the discovery.
Coast Guard members continued searching the waters off Nantucket island after the debris was found on Oct. 3 before the decision to suspend was announced the following day.
What Comes Next
Suspensions of this kind are rare but not unprecedented for the service. In a separate case on Jan. 2, 2026, the Coast Guard suspended a search for people who abandoned ship after U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats in the eastern Pacific, after coordinating more than 65 hours of search efforts about 400 nautical miles southwest of the Mexico-Guatemala border.
The Coast Guard said the appropriate investigative authorities will coordinate an inquiry into the Nantucket incident. The service has not said what caused the aircraft to go down.