Coast Guard crews are combing debris from a Boston-bound air ambulance that vanished off Nantucket with six people aboard after a steep plunge and lost contact, as search teams press the recovery.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed debris floating in the ocean from the Gulfstream G100 twinjet that went dark on Federal Aviation Administration radar early Saturday while flying from Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport.

Crews from the Boston-based cutter William Sparling reached the waters off Nantucket and began sifting wreckage to identify parts of the medical transport plane. Six people were aboard: four Canadians, including two pilots and two medics, plus a Bermudian patient and a relative. Operator Latitude Air Ambulance has not released names.

The flight was scheduled to land at 1:25 a.m. It dropped from radar contact shortly before that time, according to the Coast Guard and FlightAware data reported by the New York Post.

FlightAware tracking showed the jet plunged from 24,000 feet to 11,000 feet in roughly three minutes starting about 1:04 a.m., then appeared to stabilize before contact was fully lost.

Controllers heard weak replies as the jet went dark

Air traffic control recordings captured a New York controller trying to reach the pilot around 12:46 a.m.

The controller asked, “You’re coming in blind? Is that what you said?” and followed with, “Are you declaring an emergency or no?” Later the controller said, “You’re coming in a little weak so I didn’t hear what your response was.”

At 1:12 a.m., a Massport Fire Rescue dispatcher told emergency crews to prepare for a plane with an “electrical issue” expected in Boston in about 15 minutes. The dispatcher added, “The aircraft has lost radio and radar.”

An official search-and-rescue alert went out around 1:20 a.m., an FAA spokesperson confirmed. The agency stated, “The FAA is coordinating with the Rescue Coordination Center and the U.S. Coast Guard to locate the aircraft.”

Fox News reported the Coast Guard located a debris field off Nantucket tied to the missing medevac flight and confirmed the passenger makeup matched the operator’s account of two Canadian pilots, two medical workers, one patient, and a companion.

Aviation disasters can turn in seconds, as seen when an Amazon cargo jet crashed at Miami International Airport with deadly results.

Operator and officials describe a medical flight under pressure

Latitude Air Ambulance was carrying out a medical evaluation flight. Clarence Togeretz, the company’s director of flight operations, said crews grow concerned when a plane fails to check in on time, yet added that silence “doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.”

Breitbart noted the same rapid altitude loss and the Coast Guard’s confirmation it was searching for the Gulfstream with six people on board after the jet lost FAA contact near Nantucket.

Former Transportation Department inspector general Mary Schiavo told the Associated Press the plane may have lost control of its navigational instruments in a storm. “Something bad happened with this big drop, and they flew into this big storm. It’s a terrible place to have a loss of your instruments and be flying blind,” she said. She added that spatial disorientation can set in quickly when pilots cannot tell if they are turning, climbing, or descending.

Schiavo later described the sequence as a critical in-flight safety problem followed almost immediately by perilous weather and an 11,000-foot plunge.

Smaller aircraft incidents have produced both tragedy and survival stories, including the night a Wisconsin congressman swam to safety after an emergency landing in a lake.

Search continues while identities stay private

Coast Guard Base Boston was expected to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Sunday on the search-and-rescue effort. A full investigation will likely be led by the National Transportation Safety Board or Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, a Coast Guard spokesperson said.

The Coast Guard waits 24 hours after next of kin are notified before identifying victims or missing people. No public confirmation of survivors or fatalities had been issued at the time of the initial reports.

Separate New York Post reporting placed the search area about 13 nautical miles off Nantucket and recorded Bermuda Premier David Burt saying his thoughts were with everyone on board and their families, while thanking rescue crews and praying the six would be found safe.

Canada’s foreign affairs department also expressed that its thoughts were with those aboard and their loved ones.

Water recoveries remain unforgiving work, whether crews are pulling passengers from a burning seaplane near Sucia Island or scouring open ocean for wreckage.

Families on both sides of the border now wait for the Coast Guard and investigators to turn debris and flight data into answers. Swift recovery and honest findings matter more than speculation when lives hang in the balance.