Four members of an Opa-locka, Florida family have been found dead after the small plane carrying them home from the Bahamas disappeared from radar and went down in the ocean, a relative confirmed Tuesday.
The victims were identified as 80-year-old pilot Mario Lamar, his 79-year-old wife Lili, and their two grandchildren, 28-year-old Sofia Sosa and 22-year-old Christian Sosa. The family was flying a PA-34 Piper five-seater aircraft, tail number N212ML, from Great Harbour Cay to Opa-locka after visiting a vacation property over the holiday weekend, according to relatives.
Mario Lamar’s niece, Silvia Larrieu, said the bodies were located and recovered not by government agencies alone but by family members and civilian volunteers who joined the search effort.
“It is with profound sadness that we confirm all four of our family members have been found deceased. The search and recovery mission was conducted alongside family members and civilians who answered our call for help,” Larrieu said. “Our relatives ultimately located our loved ones and had to bring them aboard their own vessels.”
Larrieu said the family is now working with the U.S. Coast Guard to bring their relatives’ remains home.
“We are now in communication and working with the U.S. Coast Guard to bring our loved ones home safely and with dignity,” she said. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who supported us, searched alongside us, and kept our family in their prayers. We respectfully ask for privacy as we mourn this unimaginable loss.”
Speaking to the Miami Herald, Larrieu said the family had long-standing ties to the Bahamas property they were leaving. “They’ve spent their whole life going there,” she said. She also described Mario Lamar as an experienced pilot who kept his aircraft in what she called “pristine” condition.
Plane Lost Altitude Rapidly Before Disappearing
Flight-tracking data from FlightAware showed the aircraft dropped from 10,000 feet to 3,700 feet in roughly three minutes before it vanished from radar, according to reporting cited by relatives.
The U.S. Coast Guard Southeast said Monday it was assisting Bahamian authorities after reports of a downed aircraft “with four souls on board approx 15 mi off Andros Island,” and deployed an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft to help with the search.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force said it received a report around 2:20 p.m. that an aircraft may have gone down in the waters off Red Bays. Air traffic control confirmed the Piper had departed Great Harbour Cay at approximately 11:12 a.m. bound for Opa-locka, and lost contact with the plane roughly 13 miles west of Andros Island.
Police said the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association reported that the U.S. Coast Guard attempted to search the area but that the effort was postponed due to inclement weather until conditions improved.
