Miami – Four bodies were found Tuesday after a small plane carrying members of a Miami family disappeared off the Bahamas, Bahamian authorities said Tuesday. The plane took off from Great Harbor Cay around 10:12 a.m. Monday and was headed to Miami Executive Airport in Miami-Dade County, Bahamas police said in a statement. The plane’s last known contact was at 11:04 a.m. near the western side of Andros Island, according to a family statement. “Police on Andros Island are coordinating efforts to locate a plane believed to have crashed off the coast of Red Bays, northern Andros,” Bahamas Police said. The bodies were found on Tuesday, the Royal Bahamas Defense Force said. The people on board were identified by a relative as the pilot Mario Lamar, 80, his wife, Lili Lamar, 79, and two of their grandchildren, Sofía Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22. They were returning to Miami from a long weekend trip, said Silvia Larrieu, Mario and Lili’s niece. Sofi Sosa had sent a text message to her parents in a family chat letting them know they were leaving, and a flight plan her uncle submitted showed the expected time the plane would land, Larrieu said. The family contacted authorities after seeing that the messages were not being delivered. Mario Lamar has more than 40 years of flying experience, kept the plane in perfect condition and was very cautious, Larrieu said. “This is horrible,” he told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview. One of the bodies was found by a relative searching by boat, Larrieu said. Bahamas police identified the plane as a five-seat PA-34 Piper aircraft, tail number N212ML. He said he departed from Great Harbor Cay, a town in the Berry Islands of the Bahamas. Members of a Miami family were reported missing after a small plane crashed near the Bahamas. Photo courtesy of Silvi Larrieu Air traffic control lost contact with the plane when it was about 13 miles west of Andros Island, Bahamas police said. Bahamian officials contacted the U.S. Coast Guard around 2 p.m. and requested help finding a downed plane, a spokesman said. “Observers from the Southeast District command center coordinated the launch of an HC-144 Ocean Sentry to assist Bahamian authorities with the search,” the spokesperson said. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
