At 8:30 am Monday morning, a Cessna 340 aircraft left Ormond Beach Municipal Airport and headed for Grand Bahama International Airport. Unfortunately, the plane would crash approximately six miles from its destination, killing all four passengers aboard the aircraft.

Aboard the plane was Ormond Beach lawyer, R. Michael “Mike” Kennedy. Kennedy was 65 years old and was the attorney for a Florida-based travel services company. Despite the fact that Kennedy’s business was located on Ormond Beach, he flew to his office located in Freeport once or twice per week, according to his brother.

The loss has been especially hard for Mark Kennedy, Mike’s brother, and the rest of his family: “It’s very bad. We were very close. We were together yesterday afternoon at a Tampa Bay Rays game celebrating my sister’s birthday.”

Update: 4 reported dead after plane from Florida crashes near Bahamas http://t.co/CKBkEHUFIx

— Sun Sentinel (@SunSentinel) August 19, 2014

Traveling along with Kennedy were three other passengers – Robert Dean Carlson, the pilot and timeshare businessman, and two other, unidentified individuals.

The Federal Aviation Administration first reported the crash to the Coast Guard at 11 a.m. EST. Upon learning of the downed plane, the Coast Guard released helicopters to aid the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association and the Royal Bahamian Police Force in the search. Unfortunately for authorities, the crash occurred in the middle of a mangrove area at low tide, hindering the initial search efforts.

An investigation, headed by the United States National Transportation Safety Board, is currently underway to determine the reason behind the crash.