UNITED STATES: A medical transport plane with three crew members onboard, traveling between Maui and the Big Island in Hawaii, has vanished. According to the US Coast Guard, the Hawaii Life Flight airplane was a King Air twin-engine prop plane.
The Honolulu Control Facility reported the loss of radar contact with the aircraft approximately 15 nautical miles offshore, south of Hana, Maui, according to the US Coast Guard.
A company statement released on Friday said that the Global Medical Response confirms that one of the Hawaii Life Flight emergency airplanes in Maui lost radar contact while en route to pick up a patient in Waimea, Big Island.
It stated that the patient was not aboard the plane, which lost radar contact around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday. According to the statement, the company is reaching out to the families of the crew members onboard.
Additionally, the company is also assisting search and rescue teams. In the Pacific Ocean’s Maui Channel, approximately 27 kilometres south of Hana, Maui, the Coast Guard reported that aircraft controllers lost radar contact with the aircraft.
The US Coast Guard is searching for the missing airplane with boats, a helicopter, and a cargo plane. The guard claimed that one of its aircraft observed a sheen in the search area. It also said that one of its patrol boats found debris in the area, but it wasn’t sure if it was from the plane that went missing.
According to Global Medical Response, Hawaii Life Flight transports have been suspended temporarily. Lead representative Josh Green gave a crisis declaration permitting the state to enhance Hawaii’s clinical flight limit with airplanes and groups from different states.
Green said that he is working with Hawaii Life Flight and multiple US government agencies to guarantee continuous emergency transport between the islands of Hawaii.
Compared to the larger hospitals in Honolulu, many smaller hospitals on Hawaii’s more remote islands offer fewer medical services.
More serious, urgent conditions frequently necessitate transport to Oahu for treatment. Green, who is also a doctor, and before becoming governor this month, worked as an emergency room doctor on the Big Island for a long time.
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