加拿大医疗专机大西洋上空失事，搜救结束机上6人推定遇难
加拿大安大略省 Hamilton 的空中医疗转运公司 Latitude Air Ambulance 10月4日晚发表声明：美国海岸警卫队已结束对失联医疗专机 Heartbeat 104 的主动搜救并转入打捞阶段，机上四名机组人员、一名患者及其家属陪同共6人推定已经遇难。
Heartbeat 104 是一架加拿大注册的医疗专机，10月3日凌晨从百慕大起飞，原定飞往美国波士顿，机上载有两名飞行员、两名医护人员以及一名患者和一名家属陪同。航班在飞越大西洋、接近美国马萨诸塞州 Nantucket 以南海域时失联。美国海岸警卫队随后展开大规模海空搜寻，并找到飞机残骸区域。
Latitude 总裁 Peter Byl 在声明中说，这是公司大家庭与所有爱着机上六人的人难以想象的损失，公司当前的重点是支持家属、支持员工并协助当局。声明表示，四名机组成员把职业生涯奉献给在他人最困难时刻提供照护，正是在执行这样的任务时遇难。
Latitude 表示，将继续全力配合美国国家运输安全委员会、加拿大运输安全委员会及其他相关当局的打捞与调查工作。事故原因的认定是一个严谨细致的过程，公司不会对事发经过作任何猜测。公司同时感谢美国海岸警卫队以及加拿大、美国与百慕大参与搜寻的空中交通管制、搜救队伍、急救人员与政府机构。
Search Ends for Canadian Air Ambulance Jet Lost Over the Atlantic, Six Aboard Presumed Dead
Latitude Air Ambulance, an air medical transport provider based in Hamilton, Ontario, issued a statement on the evening of October 4 acknowledging the decision by the United States Coast Guard to conclude active search and rescue operations for its missing medical flight Heartbeat 104 and transition to recovery efforts. The company said the four members of its team, its patient and the patient's family escort who were aboard, six people in all, are presumed to have died.
Heartbeat 104, a Canadian-registered medical jet carrying two pilots, two medical crew, a patient and a family escort, departed Bermuda early on October 3 bound for Boston, Massachusetts. The flight was lost over the Atlantic, south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the Coast Guard mounted a large air and sea search, locating a debris field from the aircraft.
Latitude President Peter Byl said in the statement that this is an unimaginable loss for the Latitude family and for everyone who loved the six people aboard Heartbeat 104, and that the company's focus now is on supporting their families, supporting its people and assisting the authorities. The four crew members dedicated themselves to providing care to people at some of the most difficult moments in their lives, and were carrying out that mission when the tragedy occurred, the company said.
Latitude said it will continue to cooperate fully with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and all other relevant authorities as recovery efforts and the investigation proceed. Determining the circumstances and cause of an aviation accident is a careful and methodical process, and the company said it will not speculate about what occurred. It thanked the U.S. Coast Guard and the air traffic controllers, search and rescue crews, first responders and government agencies in Canada, the United States and Bermuda who worked in the search.
来源：Latitude Air Ambulance
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：一架 Gulfstream G100 医疗专机（资料图）。失事的 Heartbeat 104 为同型医疗专机。图片来源：Md Shaifuzzaman Ayon 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0。EN: A Gulfstream G100 air ambulance (file photo). The lost Heartbeat 104 was a medical jet of the same type. Image: photo by Md Shaifuzzaman Ayon, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
