Overview
- Officials say a PA‑34 Piper with registration N212ML lost contact while returning from Great Harbour Cay to Opa‑Locka and is believed to have gone down roughly 13–15 miles west of Andros Island on Monday.
- The Royal Bahamas Police and Defence Force requested help and the U.S. Coast Guard deployed an HC‑144 Ocean Sentry to support search operations.
- Search efforts have been delayed and at times suspended because of heavy storms and rough seas, limiting on-water and aerial sweeps of the wide search area.
- Family members identified the four aboard as pilot Mario Lamar Sr., 80; his wife Lili Lamar, 79; and grandchildren Sofi (Sofia/Sophie) Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22, and urged authorities to use all available resources.
- Flight-tracking data show the plane circled and then had a rapid altitude drop before radar contact ended; the aircraft is listed in FAA records as a 1977 PA‑34 owned by Seneca Aviation and formal accident investigation will begin after recovery or new evidence is found.