Miami couple and their grandchildren vanish over Bahamas after plane drops 6,300 feet in three minutes

What was supposed to be a routine flight home after the Labor Day weekend turned into a desperate search for four members of a Miami family.

Mario Lamar, 80, was flying his six-seat Piper PA-34 Seneca from Great Harbor Cay in the Bahamas toward Opa-locka, Florida, on Monday, September 7. His wife, 79-year-old Lili Lamar, and their grandchildren, Sofia Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22, were also aboard.

The family had spent the holiday weekend at their Bahamas home—described by relatives as a second home that Mario and Lili had visited throughout their lives.


But the aircraft never made it back to Florida.

The plane suddenly lost thousands of feet

According to data from FlightAware, the aircraft's speed began fluctuating sharply before its altitude dropped from roughly 10,000 feet to 3,700 feet in just three minutes.

Its flight path also appeared to loop in a circle before tracking data stopped.

The aircraft was crossing an area of rough weather near the northern end of Andros Island when it disappeared. Bahamian authorities initially faced weather conditions that prevented them from immediately launching the search.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force said the aircraft went down around 2:20 p.m., approximately 13 miles west of Andros Island.

The circumstances surrounding the sudden altitude loss remain unclear.

A family now waiting for answers

The U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Bahamas Defence Force are conducting a joint search for the aircraft and its four occupants.

The Coast Guard has deployed an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft to assist with the operation. Bahamian forces have also been searching the area, but an initial update from the Defence Force said the search had produced no results.

Mario and Lili's son has traveled to the Bahamas to help with the effort and is working to obtain a boat that can assist in the search.

For the family, every detail of the final journey has taken on enormous significance.

Sofia had reportedly sent a message to the family group before the flight, letting them know they were heading home.

“They were coming home,” Mario and Lili's niece, Silvia Larrieu, told the Miami Herald. “They’ve spent their whole life going there. That’s like their second home.”

She also appealed for help with the search.

“Please help,” Larrieu said. “I ask anybody out there, if you can help with search and rescue efforts, we would greatly appreciate it. We need to bring them home.”

Who was aboard the plane?

Mario Lamar has been described by his family as an experienced pilot with more than four decades of flying experience. His family also said he maintained the Piper in “pristine” condition and had the required safety equipment aboard.

His granddaughter Sofia recently graduated from Wake Forest University and works as a neonatal physician assistant with Kidz Medical in Miami. She also studied at Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.

Christian recently graduated from Loyola Marymount University. He has worked as a marketing creative and freelance photographer and was looking for a junior art director position in Los Angeles.

The search continues

The focus of the operation remains the waters near the northern end of Andros Island, where the aircraft was traveling through rough weather before disappearing.

For now, authorities have not publicly confirmed what caused the aircraft to lose altitude or located the four people aboard.

The family, meanwhile, is waiting for news from the search teams—hoping that the operation will finally provide answers about what happened during what should have been their journey home.