BOSTON, MA – October 4, 2026 (STL.News) The search for six people aboard a medical transport jet that disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston continued Sunday after the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that debris found off Nantucket came from the missing aircraft.
The Gulfstream G100 was carrying four Canadian crew members and two Bermudian nationals when air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft early Saturday, Oct. 3.
The Federal Aviation Administration notified the Coast Guard at approximately 2 a.m. Saturday that it had lost contact with the aircraft, identified by the Coast Guard as tail number C-GRJP, while it was traveling from Bermuda to Boston.
Search crews subsequently discovered a debris field off Nantucket that the Coast Guard confirmed was associated with the missing aircraft.
Despite that discovery, authorities continued searching Sunday for the six people aboard.
Search covers thousands of square miles
The operation has grown into a major air-and-sea search involving the U.S. Coast Guard, the New York National Guard’s Air Rescue Wing and Massachusetts authorities.
Coast Guard Northeast District Rear Adm. Matt Lake said at a Sunday news conference that crews had searched approximately 2,840 square miles using fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, boats and cutters.
“This is a large and demanding search area,” Lake said.
The Coast Guard has been providing updates to the relatives of those aboard the aircraft.
Capt. John McTamney, chief of response for the Coast Guard’s Northeast District, said crews would continue searching the area while determining whether survivors could still be on the surface.
Authorities had not announced Sunday that any of the six people had been located.
The Coast Guard has continued to describe the operation as a search for the missing occupants rather than announcing a transition solely to a recovery mission.
Sonar to search around debris field
The discovery of aircraft debris has also led authorities to expand the operation beneath the surface.
Lake said the water around the debris field is about 80 to 90 feet deep and that the Coast Guard was deploying sonar equipment to search the seabed.
Such a search could help authorities locate additional portions of the aircraft.
The Coast Guard has not announced that it has located the main wreckage.
Weather was not preventing the search operation Sunday, according to McTamney.
The debris field provides authorities with an important geographic reference point as they continue trying to locate the people aboard and determine what happened to the aircraft.
Flight originated in Bermuda
The aircraft departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda at approximately 12:41 a.m. Saturday for Boston Logan International Airport, according to Bermuda airport operator Skyport.
Six people were aboard — four crew members and two passengers.
The Government of Bermuda confirmed Saturday that the aircraft was an air ambulance traveling from Bermuda to Boston and said it was working with overseas authorities coordinating the search.
The Coast Guard said the four crew members were Canadian nationals and the two passengers were Bermudian nationals.
Latitude Air Ambulance operations manager Clarence Togeretz told Canadian media that the crew consisted of two pilots and two medical personnel. The aircraft had traveled to Bermuda to transport a patient and the patient’s relative.
The identities of those aboard had not been publicly released.
Bermuda Premier David Burt said his government was in contact with the families.
“My thoughts are with everyone on board and their families during this deeply worrying time,” Burt said Saturday. “We are praying that all six people will be found safe, and we thank the search and rescue crews for their continuing efforts.”
The Bermuda government issued another statement Sunday saying it continued monitoring the search and remained in contact with the relevant authorities.
Aircraft encountered problems before disappearing
Information emerging from air traffic control communications indicates the aircraft encountered problems before contact was lost.
Air traffic control audio published by LiveATC.net indicates the pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency as the Gulfstream approached the U.S. coast.
At one point, a controller can be heard asking the pilot whether the aircraft was “coming in blind.”
Flight-tracking data reported by The Associated Press also indicate the aircraft descended sharply from approximately 24,000 feet to around 10,000 feet during the final portion of the flight.
Those details describe the aircraft’s final minutes but do not establish what caused it to go down.
No government agency has announced a probable cause.
The electrical problems reported by the pilot could become an important part of the investigation, but determining whether they caused or contributed to the accident will require further investigation.
Authorities will need to reconstruct the aircraft’s final flight using air traffic control communications, flight data, weather information, maintenance records, and physical evidence recovered from the ocean.
Storm was near aircraft’s route
Air traffic communications and radar information reported by AP indicate that a storm was near the aircraft’s route as it approached the Massachusetts coast.
However, Coast Guard officials have not identified weather as the cause of the accident.
Former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General Mary Schiavo told AP that losing navigational instruments in poor weather could create an extremely dangerous situation for a flight crew.
That remains expert analysis rather than an official finding about what happened to this particular aircraft.
Investigators have not established whether electrical problems, weather, equipment failure, human factors or a combination of circumstances caused the aircraft to disappear.
Canadian authorities monitoring search
Because the aircraft was Canadian-registered and four Canadian citizens were aboard, Canadian authorities are also monitoring the case.
Canadian Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said Transport Canada was closely following developments and working with authorities involved in the search-and-rescue effort.
The National Transportation Safety Board was gathering information about the incident, according to AP’s reporting Saturday.
An aviation safety investigation is separate from the Coast Guard’s immediate search-and-rescue mission. The first priority remained finding the six people aboard.
Debris confirms aircraft reached the ocean
The discovery of a confirmed debris field establishes that material from the missing Gulfstream reached the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket.
It does not, by itself, establish precisely what happened aboard the aircraft before the debris entered the water.
That distinction matters as authorities piece together the sequence of events.
The aircraft departed Bermuda normally enough to begin its flight toward Boston before trouble struck as it approached the U.S. coast.
The FAA then lost contact, triggering a Coast Guard notification and a large-scale search.
The Coast Guard initially deployed aircraft and surface vessels, including the Coast Guard Cutter William Sparling. The New York Air National Guard and Massachusetts authorities also provided additional assistance.
The cutter continued searching through the night after locating the debris.
By Sunday, searchers had covered thousands of square miles while authorities prepared to examine the ocean floor around the debris field.
Six remain missing
As of the latest confirmed update on Sunday, the Coast Guard continued searching for all six people.
Officials had not publicly reported finding survivors or recovering any of the occupants.
The confirmed debris has made the circumstances increasingly serious, but authorities have not declared the six people dead.
The Coast Guard therefore continues to characterize its operation as a search for the people who were aboard the aircraft.
Finding additional wreckage could eventually provide investigators with evidence needed to determine why the Gulfstream encountered trouble.
For now, several critical questions remain unanswered, including the precise nature of the aircraft’s electrical problems, what systems may have been affected, and what caused its rapid descent.
Those questions cannot be answered reliably from air traffic recordings or flight-tracking data alone.
The Government of Bermuda said Sunday that it remained in contact with authorities as the search continued.
For the families of the four Canadians and two Bermudians aboard, the immediate focus remains the Coast Guard operation off Nantucket and the search for the missing occupants.
