An American family is missing after their small plane apparently crashed while flying from the Bahamas to Florida.

At around 2:20 p.m. local time on Monday, Sept. 7, Bahamas Police received reports that an aircraft may have gone down in the waters of Red Bays, North Andros, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a news release shared on Facebook. Air traffic control operators confirmed that a “PA-34 Piper five-seater aircraft, bearing tail number N212ML” had departed from Great Harbour Cay with four people on board.

Authorities have not officially confirmed the idenтιтies of the pᴀssengers. However, ABC News and NBC Miami reported that they are a couple and their two grandchildren: Mario Lamar Sr., 80; Lili Lamar, 79; Sofi Sosa, 28, and Christian Sosa, 22.

“Mario Lamar, an experienced pilot with more than 40 years of flying experience, was piloting the aircraft with his wife, Lili, and grandchildren, Christian and Sofi, on board,” the family said in a statement obtained by the outlets.

“The aircraft took off from Great Harbour Cay at approximately 10:12 a.m. bound for Miami Executive Airport [formerly Tamiami Airport], and its last recorded contact occurred around 11:04 a.m., near the western side of Andros Island,” the statement continued.

The Royal Bahamas Defense Force requested the Coast Guard’s ᴀssistance as a search was launched for the family, per ABC.

Air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft approximately 13 miles west of Andros Island, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s news release.

“The Bahamas Air Sea Rescue ᴀssociation (BASRA) was contacted and provided with the available information,” police said. “BASRA advised that the United States Coast Guard (USCG) had attempted to search the area for the missing aircraft. However, due to inclement weather, the search was postponed until conditions became favourable.”

“Efforts to locate the aircraft and its occupants remain a priority, and further information will be provided as it becomes available,” police concluded.

According to ABC News, family members have asked Bahamian officials and the U.S. Coast Guard to “deploy every available resource to locate the aircraft” along with the two grandparents and their grandchildren.

“The Lamar and Sosa families are deeply grateful to everyone participating in the search and to those who have reached out with support,” the outlet reported, citing the family statement.

The couple and their two grandchildren were returning from spending the weekend at a second home they own in Great Harbour Cay when the aircraft vanished, according to NBC Miami. The mother of the children received a text from her daughter before the plane took off but subsequently became concerned that she wasn’t notified about their landing.

She reportedly alerted authorities after seeing that her messages were not sending.

“We are begging you to please help us with your prayers and with the authorities. Anyone who has seen anything or who can go out by plane or boat to help us find them. We haven’t lost hope that we will find them on a raft,” the niece of Mario Lamar, who was piloting the missing aircraft, told NBC Miami.The U.S. Coast Guard, Royal Bahamas Defense Force and Bahamas Police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.