A South Florida family’s trip home from the Bahamas ended in unimaginable loss after their small plane disappeared over the water.

All four people aboard were found dead Tuesday. Their relatives, who joined the search by boat, were the ones who located and recovered them.

The victims were pilot Mario Lamar Sr., 80; his wife, Lili Lamar, 79; and their grandchildren, Sofia Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22.

According to The Associated Press, the family left Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands on Monday, September 7, bound for the Miami area. The aircraft was a twin-engine Piper PA-34 with tail number N212ML.

Bahamian police said air traffic control lost contact when the plane was about 13 miles west of Andros Island, roughly 150 miles southeast of Miami. Authorities in the Bahamas requested help from the U.S. Coast Guard at about 2 p.m. Monday.

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The Coast Guard sent an aircraft to assist with the search and returned Tuesday. By then, desperate relatives and civilians had also taken boats into the search area.

Silvia Larrieu, a niece of Mario Lamar, told the AP that the family became alarmed when messages stopped being delivered. Sofia had told her parents in a family chat that they were leaving, and the flight plan showed when the plane should have arrived.

WPLG Local 10 reported that Sofia was a neonatal physician assistant in Miami and Christian was a recent graduate of Loyola Marymount University.

Mario Lamar had more than 40 years of experience as a pilot and kept a second home on Great Harbour Cay. His niece said he had made the trip many times and was meticulous about maintaining the plane.

The family said the four had spent the Labor Day weekend in the Bahamas. They departed Great Harbour Cay at about 10:12 a.m. Monday and lost contact near Andros Island roughly an hour later.

Royal Bahamas Defence Force Lt. Darius Adams told Local 10 that investigators were looking at whether the pilot diverted around bad weather.

The official search was suspended because of worsening conditions, and relatives continued looking from their own boats.

In a statement, the family thanked the civilians and authorities who joined the search. They said their relatives brought their loved ones aboard their own vessels and were working with the Coast Guard to return them home with dignity.

No cause for the crash has been announced. The investigation remains underway.

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Four people set out for a familiar flight home. Their family is now mourning Mario, Lili, Sofia and Christian — two generations lost together in the waters off the Bahamas.

File photo: Piper PA-34 Seneca by Arthursautot, CC BY-SA 4.0. The airplane pictured is not N212ML and was not involved in the crash.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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