By Jude Atupulazi
The mystery pervading the Bermuda Triangle has resurfaced, following grave fears for the passengers of a private plane that suddenly vanished mid-flight over the triangle, sparking a major search off the coast of the US.
US authorities say the Gulfstream G100 lost contact with air traffic control about 2am local time on Saturday (4pm Saturday AET) while flying from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport.
The US Coast Guard said the Federal Aviation Administration alerted it after contact was lost with the aircraft – which plummeted from 23,500 feet to 11,000 feet in just three minutes, according to FlightAware data.
‘We are praying for a safe outcome,’ a spokesperson for Latitude Air Ambulance, which operates the missing plane, told City News.
A search is now under way off Nantucket in the air and on water as crews work to locate the missing jet, the Coast Guard said. Data from FlightRadar24 showed a number of aircraft searching south of the island.
‘Air and surface crews have launched in search of the aircraft. Updates will be provided here as info becomes available,’ the Coast Guard Northeast District said on X.
The plane was carrying out a medical evacuation in Bermuda – a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to Clarence Togeretz, Director of Flight Operations at Latitude Air Ambulance.
‘We always get rather concerned when our crew doesn’t report to us in a timely manner,’ he told NBC News.
‘But I will say that again, optimistically and positively, that doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.’
The Bermuda Triangle is the area of ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It has been called mysterious, since the 1940s-60s because of stories of planes and ships disappearing there without explanation.
The most famous cases include: Flight 19 (1945) – the one that started it all. Five US Navy bombers on a training flight got lost, radio messages showed their compasses malfunctioning, then they all disappeared. The rescue plane sent to find them also disappeared.
Star Tiger and Star Ariel (1948-49) – two British passenger planes vanished without a mayday call while flying through the triangle.
Witchcraft (1967) – A small pleasure boat that disappeared a mile off Miami in perfect weather, right after calling for a tow.
People think it is mysterious because of reports of compasses spinning, instruments failing; sudden clear-sky disappearances; stories of “electronic fog”.
What science and investigations actually show
There is no official mystery. The US Navy, Coast Guard, and NOAA say it is one of the busiest shipping and flying routes in the world, so more accidents happen there by numbers alone.
Weather changes very fast – sudden hurricanes, waterspouts, and Gulf Stream currents that can erase wreckage quickly.
Large areas of deep ocean where wreckage sinks very deep and is hard to find.
Human error – many Flight 19 pilots were trainees and got lost or ran out of fuel.
No more disappearances per square mile there, than in any other part of the Atlantic.
So, in popular culture, it’s a paranormal mystery. But in official records, it is described as a myth built by books and movies taking unrelated accidents and adding mystery to them.
