Financier and Mother Among Six Feared Dead After Medical Jet Crashes Off Nantucket

A financier and his mother are among six people presumed dead after a privately owned medical jet crashed off the coast of Nantucket. The aircraft, a Gulfstream G100 operated by Latitude Air Ambulance, was traveling from Bermuda to Boston when it disappeared around 2 a.m. on Saturday.

The Bermuda Police Service identified Sergio Wayne Lottimore, 41, a vice president at Bermuda insurance firm Hamilton Re, and his 66-year-old mother, Marilyn Lavonne Bean, as passengers aboard the flight. Hamilton Re confirmed Lottimore was traveling with his mother, though further details were not provided.

The U.S. Coast Guard named the four Canadian crew members as Philip Gregory Childerhose, Thomas Henry Farquhar, Sarah Jane Paton, and Jolene Beth Weir. Latitude Air Ambulance confirmed these individuals were their colleagues and friends, serving as captain, first officer, flight nurse, and respiratory therapist, respectively. The company stated the four were accompanying a patient and a family escort, presumed to be Lottimore and Bean.

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for survivors on Sunday, one day after a debris field from the aircraft was discovered. The search covered more than 4,400 square miles for 66 hours off the Massachusetts coast, with the water depth around the debris ranging from 80 to 90 feet.

Latitude Air Ambulance expressed profound sadness over the decision to end the search operations, stating, "We must now face the heartbreaking reality that the four members of our Latitude team, our patient and the patient's family escort, who were aboard Heartbeat 104, are presumed to have died."

Sergio Lottimore was remembered by his alma mater, Warwick Academy, as a "Prefect and an outstanding person." Hamilton Re noted his "18 years of financial lines market experience." Philip Gregory Childerhose, a captain for Latitude since 2017, was described as "incredibly kind-hearted and extremely passionate about aviation." First officer Thomas Henry Farquhar was recalled as a "gentle giant." Flight nurse Sarah Jane Paton was remembered for dedicating her life to caring for others, while respiratory therapist Jolene Beth Weir was recognized for her "passion for helping others."

Federal Aviation Administration officials alerted the Coast Guard early Saturday after losing contact with the medical flight. Air traffic control audio indicated that controllers attempted to communicate with the flight, asking if they were declaring an emergency, but received no response. Flight data from FlightAware suggested the aircraft rapidly descended from approximately 25,000 feet to around 11,000 feet shortly after 1 a.m.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation into the crash.