The four members of a Florida family traveling in a small plane that went missing while returning from the Bahamas have been found dead, local media confirmed this afternoon. The aircraft lost contact near Andros Island; while the plane itself has not yet been located, authorities have not yet determined what happened.
The aircraft had departed from Great Harbour Cay in the Bahamas, bound for Miami Executive Airport in Miami-Dade County. According to information reported by CBS News Miami, the last known contact occurred at 11:04 a.m. on Monday, near the western side of Andros Island. Emergency agencies immediately began coordinating efforts to locate the plane.
Bahamian police had reported that local teams were working on the hypothesis that the aircraft might have crashed into the sea off Red Bays, in North Andros. The search was supported by the U.S. Coast Guard, which deployed an HC-144 Ocean Sentry to assist Bahamian authorities.
The deceased are Mario Lamar, 80; his wife, Lili Lamar, 79; and their grandchildren Sofia Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22. CNN and other local media confirmed that all four were found dead during the search operations.
Early Tuesday, the family had announced that a body had been found. Subsequently, Lieutenant Darius Adams, a public relations officer for the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, told CNN that all four bodies had been recovered.
According to CNN, an updated statement from the Lamar and Sosa families indicated that the victims’ relatives were the ones who found the four deceased individuals. “They located our loved ones and had to bring them aboard their own vessels,” the statement read.
The families indicated that they are now communicating and collaborating with the U.S. Coast Guard to bring their loved ones home. Lieutenant Darius Adams told CNN that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force would continue deploying divers to the area where the aircraft was lost, aiming to provide the family with answers and peace of mind, as well as to complete the investigation.
Mario Lamar was piloting the light aircraft and had over 40 years of flight experience. These details were shared by a family spokesperson seeking to provide context regarding the background of the man at the controls of the missing plane.
Bahamian police specified that the aircraft was a five-seat Piper PA-34, identified by tail number N212ML. They also noted that air traffic control lost contact when the plane was approximately 13 miles west of Andros Island—roughly 21 kilometers from the reference point indicated by authorities.
Bahamian authorities requested assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard around 2:00 p.m. on Monday. The Southeast District command center coordinated the deployment of an HC-144 Ocean Sentry to assist in the search for the aircraft.
