A US Coast Guard search is under way in the Atlantic for a Canadian-registered Gulfstream G100 air ambulance that lost contact while flying six occupants from Bermuda to Boston on 3 October.

The aircraft, registered C-GRJP, belongs to Latitude Air Ambulance, an operator based in Hamilton, Canada, according to Transport Canada's registry data. The jet was operating a medical flight when contact was lost.

The US Federal Aviation Administration notified the Coast Guard of the disappearance at 02:00.

"Coast Guard air and surface crews are searching an area off the coast of Nantucket," the Coast Guard states. Several aircraft and vessels are participating in the operation:

• a Lockheed Martin HC-130 long-range search aircraft;
• an Airbus HC-144 Ocean Sentry maritime patrol platform;
• a Sikorsky MH-60 helicopter.

What is known about the aircraft?

Transport Canada lists C-GRRP's airframe — registered C-GRJP — as a 1996 build. Israel Aerospace Industries manufactured the twinjet under the Astra programme before Gulfstream took over the type, which became the G100 in the US manufacturer's business-jet line.

The aircraft was carrying six occupants at the time contact was lost. The operator, Latitude Air Ambulance, is a Hamilton, Ontario-based medical transport specialist.

What does the search involve?

The Coast Guard is coordinating both air and surface assets across a search area off Nantucket, the Massachusetts island that sits on the routing between Bermuda and the US northeast corridor.

The HC-130 provides long-endurance coverage over open ocean, while the HC-144 Ocean Sentry and the MH-60 helicopter extend the search at lower altitudes and closer to the surface, where debris or life rafts would be identifiable.

No information on wreckage, debris fields, or survivors has been confirmed in the initial notification. The FAA's 02:00 alert to the Coast Guard marks the point at which the loss of contact formally triggered the federal search response.

What happens next?

The search continues off the Nantucket coast, with the Coast Guard deploying multiple air and surface crews to locate the aircraft and its six occupants. Any findings from the operation will feed into the investigation framework that follows a missing-aircraft event, with Transport Canada and the FAA as the relevant registries and authorities already identified in the case.