FOUR FAMILY MEMBERS VANISHED WITH THEIR PLANE — THEN THEIR BODIES WERE FOUND OFF THE BAHAMAS

A family’s desperate search for answers ended in heartbreak after a small private plane carrying four relatives disappeared on its flight back to Florida.

For more than a day, the fate of 80-year-old pilot Mario Lamar Sr., his 79-year-old wife Lili Lamar, and their grandchildren Sofi Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22, remained unknown.

The family had been flying home to South Florida after spending the Labor Day weekend at their vacation home on Great Harbour Cay in the Bahamas.

Then the plane disappeared.

Now, the search has ended in tragedy.

THE FLIGHT HOME THAT NEVER ARRIVED

The family was aboard a Piper PA-34 aircraft when it departed Great Harbour Cay on September 7, bound for Florida.

According to Bahamian authorities, air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft approximately 13 miles west of Andros Island.

The aircraft was believed to have gone down in waters near Red Bays, North Andros. Search efforts were complicated by poor weather, prompting the U.S. Coast Guard to assist Bahamian authorities.

The aircraft had reportedly experienced a dramatic loss of altitude before disappearing from radar. Flight-tracking data cited by multiple outlets showed the plane dropping from roughly 10,000 feet to 3,700 feet in about three minutes.

What caused the sudden descent remains unknown.

A FAMILY LAUNCHED ITS OWN SEARCH

As authorities searched the waters, relatives refused to simply wait.

Family members and civilian boaters joined the effort to locate the missing aircraft and the four people aboard.

Silvia Larrieu, a relative of the family, publicly appealed for help, asking anyone in the area who might have a boat or aircraft to assist with the search.

The family had initially held onto hope that the four could somehow have survived the crash.

But on Tuesday, September 8, that hope was shattered.

Relatives searching the area located the bodies and recovered them using their own vessels, according to the family and the Associated Press.

WHO WAS ON BOARD?

Mario Lamar was described by relatives as an experienced pilot with more than 40 years of flying experience.

His family said he was extremely careful with the aircraft and routinely flew between Florida and the Bahamas.

His wife, Lili, was also aboard.

Their grandchildren, Sofi and Christian Sosa, were traveling with them as the family returned home following the holiday weekend.

Sofi had recently graduated from Wake Forest University, while Christian had completed his studies at Loyola Marymount University, according to reports.

For relatives, the tragedy is now about more than a plane crash.

It is the loss of an entire family group in a single devastating incident.

THE QUESTIONS THAT REMAIN

Authorities have not publicly established what caused the aircraft to lose altitude and crash.

The recovery of the four victims brings an end to the desperate search, but investigators will still need to determine what happened during the final minutes of the flight.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Bahamian authorities assisted with the search and recovery operation.

The family has expressed gratitude to everyone who joined the effort and asked for privacy as they begin to mourn.

Four people left the Bahamas expecting to return home.

They never made it.

One plane. Four family members. One final flight that ended in tragedy over the waters of the Bahamas.