WASHINGTON; A medical aircraft carrying six people, including a patient, has gone missing while traveling from Bermuda to Boston, Massachusetts, prompting a major search-and-rescue operation in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to initial international media reports, the aircraft departed from Bermuda on Saturday and was heading toward Boston, where the patient was due to be taken to a hospital for treatment. The aircraft, reportedly a Canadian-operated Gulfstream G100 medical jet, was carrying a patient and five other people, including the pilot.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reportedly lost contact with the aircraft at around 2 a.m. U.S. time. The plane was believed to be operating normally before communications were lost.
The U.S. Coast Guard has launched an extensive search operation involving aircraft and marine rescue teams. Search efforts are focused on waters off the Massachusetts coast and near Nantucket, where authorities are attempting to locate the missing aircraft or any possible debris.
The disappearance has once again drawn attention to the so-called Bermuda Triangle, a region of the western North Atlantic Ocean that has long been associated with stories of ships and aircraft mysteriously disappearing.
However, there is currently no evidence that the aircraft’s disappearance was connected to the Bermuda Triangle. Authorities have not cited any unusual or unexplained phenomenon in connection with the missing aircraft.
The aircraft had departed Bermuda on a routine medical transport mission and was reportedly bound for Boston to deliver the seriously ill patient to a hospital.
As the search operation continues, authorities have yet to determine what caused the aircraft to disappear. Investigators are expected to examine flight-tracking data, communications records, weather conditions and other evidence to establish what happened.