Med flight debris field found off Nantucket; six passengers still missing

Colleen Cronin, Boston Herald on Oct 4, 2026

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The Coast Guard found a debris field off the coast of Nantucket from a Canadian medical flight that went missing over the weekend, but they’re still looking for the people who were onboard.

“Our priority is to find the six personnel on that aircraft,” said Rear Admiral Matt Lake, the Coast Guard Northeast District Commander, at a Sunday press conference, referring to their efforts as an “active search.”

When pressed by reporters on whether this is a recovery mission, Lake replied, “at this point we are still conducting a search for the missing personnel.”

The Coast Guard started looking for the plane and its passengers after getting a call from the Federal Aviation Administration around 2 a.m. Saturday morning, Lake said.

Airplanes, helicopters, and boats have searched over 2,840 square miles of ocean and recovered debris from the medical flight about 20 miles off the coast of Nantucket. The waters in the debris field area are between 80 and 90 feet deep, Lake said.

He couldn’t offer any details about the six missing people, telling reporters that there were four Canadian citizens and two Bermuda citizens on the aircraft that was traveling from Bermuda to Boston.

“Because of the amount of the debris, it’s very difficult to get into the details of what’s there, but right now we’re really just focused on finding the people,” Lt. Commander Kastriot Kastrati said.

It doesn’t appear that they’ve found the plane’s black box yet, but Lake noted that the debris is “extensive.”

Since the search began, Capt. John McTamney said that weather conditions have been “favorable.”

“All assets on the sea and in the air have been able to effectively search the area,” he said, noting that it’s a fairly large area where they’re looking.

“We’ll continue to search and saturate the area until we’re at the point that we’re confident, if there were any survivors remaining on the surface of the water, we would have found them,” he said.

The rear admiral said that the Coast Guard has been in contact with the families of the passengers.

“My thoughts and those of every Coast Guard crew member are with the people on that aircraft, their families, and their loved ones during this incredibly difficult time,” Lake said.

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