4 family members flying from Bahamas to Florida in small plane go missing, with Coast Guard joining search

The U.S. Coast Guard has joined the search for a plane carrying four Florida family members that authorities in the Bahamas believe “crash-landed” in the ocean after departing from Great Harbour Cay.

Pilot Mario Lamar, 80, his wife Lili, 79, and two of their grandchildren, Sofia Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22, were identified by family as those onboard the PA-34 Piper five-seater aircraft that was heading to Opa-locka, Florida, according to the Miami Herald.

“Please help,” Silvia Larrieu, the niece of the couple, told the newspaper. “I ask anybody out there, if you can help with search and rescue efforts, we would greatly appreciate it. We need to bring them home.”

Larrieu said the four were coming home to Florida after visiting a vacation property in Great Harbour Cay over Labor Day weekend and that “they’ve spent their whole life going there.” Data from the website FlightAware showed the plane descended from 10,000 feet to 3,700 feet in about three minutes before vanishing from radar.

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Larrieu told the Miami Herald that Mario Lamar had years of experience as a pilot and always kept the aircraft in “pristine” shape.

U.S. Coast Guard Southeast said Monday it was assisting authorities in the Bahamas “following a report of a downed aircraft with four souls onboard approx 15 mi off Andros Island,” with a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane joining the search.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force said it received a report around 2:20 p.m. on Monday “that an aircraft may have gone down in the waters off Red Bays.”

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It added that air traffic control “confirmed that a PA-34 Piper five-seater aircraft, bearing tail number N212ML, departed Great Harbor Cay at approximately 11:12 a.m., en route to Opa-locka, Florida.”

“Air traffic control subsequently lost contact with the aircraft approximately 13 miles west of Andros Island,” the Royal Bahamas Police Force said.

“The Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association (BASRA) advised that the United States Coast Guard had attempted to search the area for the missing aircraft,” police also said. “However, due to inclement weather, the search was postponed until conditions became favorable.”