SIX PRESUMED DEAD AS COAST GUARD ENDS NANTUCKET PLANE SEARCH

Six people are presumed dead after the US Coast Guard suspended its search for a medical transport plane that crashed off Massachusetts. The Gulfstream G100, flown by Latitude Air Ambulance as Heartbeat 104, was travelling from Bermuda to Boston when it lost contact with air traffic control early on Saturday. The Coast Guard found a debris field near Nantucket on Saturday and ended the search on Sunday evening. Latitude Air Ambulance said the four crew members, the patient and the patient's family escort aboard "are presumed to have died." Coast Guard Rear Admiral Matthew Lake said suspending the search was "not an easy decision."

The flight carried a four-person Canadian crew and a patient with a family escort, both Bermudian citizens, Latitude's director of flight operations Clarence Togeretz said. It left Bermuda late on Friday night, bound for Boston's Logan International Airport. Accounts differ on timing: one put the final contact at about 2am on Saturday, another said the Federal Aviation Administration lost contact just after 1am. Tracking data showed the plane drop from around 24,000ft to about 11,000ft before communications went dark. Radio transmissions showed the pilot reported electrical failures and struggled to respond as a controller asked whether the aircraft was "coming in blind."

Latitude's president, Peter Byl, called it "an unimaginable loss" for "everyone who loved the six people aboard" Heartbeat 104. He said the firm's focus was on supporting the families and staff involved while assisting the authorities. Latitude Air Ambulance, which flies patients home internationally, said it would honour its colleagues' "care, professionalism, and commitment." The Coast Guard thanked the partner agencies that took part in the search before it was suspended.