One person has been found dead as a South Florida family asks for help finding three other loved ones after a plane carrying four relatives went missing while flying from the Bahamas to the Miami area, prompting a multi-agency search effort involving the US Coast Guard.
The PA-34 Piper, a five-seater aircraft, left Great Harbour Cay Monday bound for Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Federal Aviation Administration said. Air traffic control later lost contact with the plane roughly 13 miles west of Andros Island, the largest island in the Bahamas.
“On the flight this morning was my uncle Mario Lamar, his wife Lili Lamar and two of his grandchildren, Christian Sosa and Sofi Sosa,” Silvi Larrieu told CNN in a statement. Her uncle, who is 80, has more than 40 years of flying experience, the statement said.
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Larrieu announced Tuesday morning that one of her family members had been found dead but did not release the person’s name.
“What is especially devastating is that a civilian, one of our own family members, was the person who located our loved one and had to bring their deceased relative onto their own boat,” Larrieu wrote. “We are heartbroken and desperate.”
The FAA issued a search Alert Notice (ALNOT) for the plane after air traffic control lost communication with the pilot around 10:50 a.m. local time on Monday, the agency said. The ALNOT alerts public safety agencies, pilots and airports to start looking for a missing aircraft.
Authorities were alerted to the missing plane around 2:20 p.m., when police received a report that “an aircraft may have gone down in the waters off Red Bays,” a settlement on the northwestern tip of Andros Island, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said.
According to tracking site FlightRadar24, the plane, which bears the tail number N212ML, appears to have circled off the Bahamian coast before disappearing from radar.
At the time of the plane’s disappearance, there were heavy thunderstorms in the area, though it’s unclear if weather may have played a factor.
The US Coast Guard said it was assisting the Royal Bahamas Defence Force in the search, some 15 miles off Andros Island, and had deployed an HC-144 Ocean Sentry surveillance plane to scour the waters.
An initial search attempt was delayed by bad weather but was expected to resume once conditions improved, police said, citing the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association.
“Efforts to locate the aircraft and its occupants remain a priority,” police said.
The family is asking anyone who may have been nearby to “immediately report anything they witnessed, including an aircraft in distress, unusual activity on the water or shoreline, or any radio communications.”
“Whether it’s by plane, by boat, any signs that you’ve noticed, to help us find them and bring them back alive,” Larrieu said.
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