MIAMI (AP) — One of four family members aboard a small plane that went missing off the Bahamas was found dead Tuesday, a family member said.
Silvia Larrieu said a relative out searching by boat found the body. The family was not immediately releasing the person’s identity.
The plane went missing on Monday after departing Great Harbour Cay, a city in the Berry Islands of the Bahamas, for Miami Executive Airport in Miami-Dade County, according to Bahamas police.
Larrieu said her uncle, Mario Lamar, 80, had more than 40 years of experience as a pilot and routinely flew to the Bahamas, where he had a second home in Great Harbour Cay. The plane was also carrying his wife, Lili, 79, and their grandchildren, Sofi Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22. They were returning home to Miami from a trip over the long weekend, Larrieu said.
Sofi Sosa had texted her parents in a family chat that they were leaving, and a flight plan her uncle filed showed the time the plane was expected to land, Larrieu said.
The family contacted authorities after seeing messages were not being delivered. Her uncle kept the plane in pristine condition and was very cautious, she said.
“This is awful,” she told The Associated Press in a brief phone interview.
Bahamas police identified the plane as a PA-34 Piper five-seater aircraft, with tail number N212ML. Air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft when it was about 13 miles west of Andros Island, Bahamas police said.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Nicolina Converso said a Coast Guard plane was helping with the search again on Tuesday. Authorities in the Bahamas requested the agency’s help around 2 p.m. Monday following a report of a downed airplane.
Larrieu pleaded with anyone who can help to assist in the search.
“We are always going to hold hope,” she said. “We do believe in miracles.”
