Latitude Air Ambulance, the Canadian air medical transport provider that announced the loss of six passengers when one of its aircraft went down at the weekend, comes with an exemplary record, the founder of Bermuda Air Ambulance said.

Gilbert “Artie” Darrell commented after the loss of the Gulfstream G100 medevac jet, which was taking a Bermudian patient and her son for medical care in Massachusetts when it plunged into the sea off the coast of Nantucket Island.

Marilyn Lavonne Bean and her son, Sergio Wayne Lottimore, were lost in the incident, as well as four staff from Canada.

Mr Darrell, who has provided a local air ambulance link to hospitals overseas, said of Latitude: “We’ve done work with them in the past. There aren’t a ton of companies out there who do air ambulance.

“They’re an extremely professional service — they’ve never had any incident before. Aviation is not perfectly safe but it’s very safe.”

He added: “Every year, aviation gets safer and safer, statistically.”

Asked about whether the loss of the aircraft could affect the lifeline for Bermudian patients needing overseas treatment, Mr Darrell said: “It’s very hard to say.

“My opinion is probably irrelevant. It’s more a question for the regulatory here in Bermuda. They have oversight of aircraft and I’ve been working with them on getting a full-time aircraft on the ground here.”

The former paramedic and firefighter has consistently pushed for the island to secure a stable, full-time service.

“People don’t know this service is needed until they need it,” Mr Darrell said in 2015 after Bermuda Air Medivac, a private company, was forced to close in March 2013 owing to financial problems.

“For the last five years all of us involved and others — it’s been a labour of love to try and bring it back full time,” Mr Darrell said yesterday.

“It’s a combination of things, insurance, government and regulatory.”

Mr Darrell added that he “can’t imagine” the island’s patients in need of specialised treatment having any recourse in a small community — “unless we built a bigger hospital or hired specialists”.

“There is stroke care, cardiac care, cancer treatment, trauma, spinal injuries. I cannot see us not needing to fly people out,” he said.

“It’s a vitally needed service. There are 200-plus a year that are going right now, and probably more who need to go and never do.”

Mr Darrell added: “I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that these people lost their lives and we do not know what happened.

“Right now the only thing that matters is thinking about and caring for these families.”

Edward Schultz, a former chief of emergency services for the Bermuda Hospitals Board, who is staying on Nantucket, also expressed his condolences.

Dr Schultz said Nantucket was five times the size of the island, with most Bermuda-to-Boston flights passing “virtually directly over the island or very close near by”.

He added: “At the time the Latitude Air Ambulance was approaching Nantucket, it was raining, as a front was passing over the island.”

With the search suspended, Dr Schultz said it would likely resume with “side-scanning sonar until the main body of the aircraft is located”, once sea conditions permitted.

“The US Navy will then send a salvage vessel with divers to map the underwater debris field and recover the aircraft and its black box, as well as hopefully retrieve the bodies of the passengers and flight crew in the process. The depth at the crash site is very amenable to diving and salvage operations.”

Dr Schultz said Bermuda was “very fortunate” to have access to top US medical centres including Johns Hopkins, New York Presbyterian, Mass General-Brigham, Dana Farber, Lahey and “several other leading Boston and New York-area hospitals”.

“When I was employed in the Emergency Department at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for many years, I was always impressed by the professionalism and expertise of the air ambulance providers that we were dealing with,” he added.

“I also felt Bermuda was very well served indeed — because although KEMH is an excellent community hospital, there are many advanced services and procedures that it simply cannot provide, and are much better delivered in an academic, cutting-edge, high-volume overseas medical facility.

Dr Schultz offered prayers and condolences to all involved and said he was saddened to think that the aircraft might have landed safely in 15 or 20 minutes more flight time.

He added: “As someone who worked in emergency services for over 40 years, I was constantly reminded of the fragility and uncertainty of life, and how easily and unexpectedly death can occur at any time.”