Search for missing plane still ongoing as efforts continue into second day

Nearly 36 hours after a medical transport plane went missing off the coast of Nantucket, the U.S. Coast Guard said it was continuing its search.

The Coast Guard held a press conference Sunday morning to provide updates on the ongoing search for the aircraft, which disappeared shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday morning while en route to Boston from Bermuda. Six people were aboard the plane, including a patient, a family member, and a four-person crew.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately alerted the Coast Guard, prompting the agency to launch its search, Rear Adm. Matt Lake said at the press conference. Crews have located debris from the missing jet, but the plane and its passengers have not yet been found.

“This is a large and demanding search area,” Lake said. “Our crews are employing fixed-wing aircraft, helicopter, boats, and cutters to search the area and will continue to evaluate all available information as our operation progresses.”

Rescuers have so far searched approximately 2,840 square miles, keeping next of kin notified all the while, according to Lake. Officials declined to identify the people aboard the plane “out of respect for the privacy of the families and next of kin.”

Authorities are currently working on sending naval craft equipped with sonar technology out to the debris field, where the waters are approximately 80 to 90 feet deep, Lake said. As of Sunday morning’s press conference, officials are still unsure of what caused the aircraft to disappear from the FAA’s radar.

Capt. John McTamney expressed confidence in the ongoing efforts, noting that “the weather has been, from a search perspective, favorable” and has not disrupted the Coast Guard’s operation. The plane’s disappearance approximately 20 miles off the coast has prompted rescuers to launch “all available assets of different types.”

“It is a rather large area to search, but we have sufficient assets where we are saturating the area, again hoping to find those survivors,” McTamney said.