‘Heartbreaking reality’: Six aboard missing Hamilton-based air ambulance presumed dead

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board took over the investigation Monday into the tragic weekend crash of a Hamilton medical evacuation plane.

The head of the Hamilton-based company says they have to face what he calls “the heartbreaking reality” that the six people on the jet are presumed dead.

The head of Latitude Air Ambulance says the company’s four crew members were carrying out their mission to care for people at some of the most difficult moments of their lives, when their plane went down.

Two others were also on the plane: a mother and her son who were being flown to hospital.

With the U.S. Coast Guard saying it’s suspending its search in the Atlantic for the Latitude Air Medevac plane, the head of Latitude Air says the loss of the six people on board is unimaginable.

He says the company will focus on supporting the families and assisting authorities with the investigation.

WATCH MORE: Search continues for missing Hamilton-based air ambulance, six passengers

Latitude Air works out of the John C. Munro Airport in Hamilton.

The plane was a Gulfstream G100 jet called Heartbeat 104, which was flying from Bermuda to Boston early Saturday when it ran into trouble approaching Nantucket Island in Massachusetts.

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board says the plane appears to have gone down in or near international waters and it’s taking over the investigation as the country of registration for the plane.

“Really the key for us will be finding the aircraft, locating the flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, the black box if you will, and we’re hoping a lot of the information that we will require to determine exactly what happened and why, will be found in that equipment,” said Craig Johnston, the Transportation Safety Board director of investigations.

Air traffic controllers said the plane had declared an emergency before the crash.

“Roger, you said you’re coming in blind, is that what you said?,” as was heard over the radio. “Okay, you declaring emergency, yeah?”

READ MORE: U.S. Coast Guard says Hamilton-based air ambulance carrying six people is missing

In an air traffic recording, the controller tried to confirm that the plane was “coming in blind.”

The pilot’s response can’t be heard.

Flight data shows the jet plunging from 24,000 feet to just 1,100 feet.

Storms were reported at the time of the crash and an aviation expert says the pilots may have been trying to descend below the clouds.

“Here’s what we do know: they did report an electrical problem, the pilots reported they were flying blind,” said Jim Brauchle, an aviation lawyer. “You could assume that they lost their instruments or their avionics. So, if you don’t have a horizon, and whether it’s artificial in your instruments, or being able to visually see it outside, you become spatially disoriented within a matter of seconds.”

WATCH MORE: U.S. Coast Guard suspends search for missing Hamilton-based air ambulance, passengers

A U.S. Coast Guard search found widespread wreckage.

The Latitude Air crew are identified as two people from Hamilton and two from the Greater Toronto Area.

Their names haven’t been released.

Bermuda Broadcasting says police there have identified the people from Bermuda being flown to hospital, as 41-year-old Sergio Lottimore of Bermuda and his mother, 66-year-old Marilyn Bean.

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath extended her condolences on behalf of the city to everyone affected by this tragedy.

The Transportation Safety Board says this kind of an investigation could take two years, but there would be interim reports if they’re necessary.

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