Search on as medical transport plane with 3 passengers vanishes from radar before crashing off Maui

Search on as medical transport plane with 3 passengers vanishes from radar before crashing off Maui
(Representational photo, Getty Images)

MAUI COUNTY, HAWAII: After vanishing from the radar at 5,000 feet altitude and approximately 15 nautical miles offshore south of Hana Maui a medical transport plane C90 Beechcraft King Air that had taken off to pick up a patient has likely crashed with three onboard crew members in the Maui Channel as the US Coast Guard continues its search. The incident reportedly occurred at 9.27 pm local time on Thursday, December 15

Early in the morning, the Coast Guard's Hawaii and Pacific region tweeted that the Fast Response Cutter William Hart had joined the search after the small boat Station Maui and several other aircraft had reacted to a report of the missing aircraft. “Global Medical Response can confirm that one of our Hawaii Life Flight emergency fixed-wing airplanes based in Maui, went off the radar while en route to pick up a patient in Waimea, Big Island,” the company said in a statement.

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"We are doing everything we can to bring our team members home and we will provide an update as soon as we have details. At this point, here is what we know. The plane went off the radar at 21:27 local time on December 15 as they were en route from Maui to Waimea Big Island. We have three team members and no patient on board. We are asking everybody to please pray that we find them safely," the company statement added.