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

Aircraft debris was recovered from the area but Coast Guard officials have not confirmed whether the debris is from the crashed plane

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.

The Coast Guard's Hawaii and Pacific district said in a series of early morning tweets said that "small boat Station Maui and multiple USCG aircraft from Air Station Barbers Point are responding to a report of a downed aircraft in the Maui Channel." They said, "The aircraft was reported to be a King Air twin-engine prop plane, Hawaii Life Flight with 3 persons on board all crew." They confirmed that there were "no medical patients". "The Honolulu Control Facility reported losing radar contact with the plane approx 15 nautical miles offshore South of Hana, Maui". "One of the USCG aircraft reported seeing a sheen in the search area. A USCG patrol boat recovered debris from the area with no confirmation that it is from the aircraft. Coast Guard search teams continue in the search," their tweet said.

USCG said a plane has since flown back to Oahu because of difficulty seeing anything in the dark, but said it still has several other resources out there, including a patrol boat, a helicopter, and a fast response cutter, Hawaii News Now reported. “It does correlate with the last known position of the plane, but we can’t, for certain say that it’s from the same aircraft,” said Lt. Commander Andrew Williams, USCG rescue mission coordinator as per the report. “But right now we’re focusing our efforts on the search. And we have software that takes the weather currents and winds and provides us a drift model of the most likely location that will find survivors or wreckage and stuff from the aircraft. So we’re focused on that right now.”

Although the reason for the plane's disappearance is unknown, this passage is infamous for being dangerous for boats and planes due to its high winds and turbulent ocean conditions, the report said. “It’s dark and on the ocean the Coast Guard is working really diligently along with fire rescue and others that are out there at this moment in time, doing their best. And we’re praying that we find the people involved in this accident,” said Maui County Mayor Mike Victorino. Hawaii Life Flight has also paused its transport flights as the search continues.