Wreckage of missing plane carrying Cardiff footballer Sala found

The wreckage of a small plane carrying Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala has been located two weeks after it disappeared from the radar over the English Channel.

The wreckage was found hours after the search started near the Channel Island Guernsey by a private rescue operation hired by Sala’s family.

The details of the location were sent to the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB), who will now officially identify the plane and try to recover the wreckage.

An AAIB ship will remain at the location and will launch a small submarine to confirm the location visually following which efforts to recover the wreckage will start.

David Mearns, who ran the private operation, said on Twitter the families of Emiliano Sala and the pilot, David Ibbotson, were notified of the discovery.

Wreckage of the plane carrying Emiliano Sala and piloted by David Ibbotson was located early this morning by the FPV MORVEN. As agreed with the AAIB they moved the GEO OCEAN III over the position we provided them to visually identify the plane by ROV. #EmilianoSala

— David Mearns (@davidlmearns) February 3, 2019

The families of Emiliano Sala and David Ibbotson have been notified by Police. The AAIB will be making a statement tomorrow. Tonight our sole thoughts are with the families and friends of Emiliano and David. #EmilianoSalas #NoDejenDeBuscarAEmilianoSala

— David Mearns (@davidlmearns) February 3, 2019

Sala’s plane disappeared on January 22, when the 28-year-old striker from Argentina, who recently signed for the English Premier League club, was flying from the French city of Nantes, where he used to play.

Sala signed for Cardiff City for a club record fee of about 17 million euros ($19m) after scoring 12 goals for the French club this season.

Argentine newspaper Clarin published a message that Sala sent before his plane vanished saying he was “getting scared”.

Rescue aircraft and boats searched more than 4,400 square kilometres of ocean for the single-engine Piper Malibu since its disappearance but failed to find any trace of it.

Several days after the crash, the search was called off, after which family started a privately funded operation, partially thanks to a crowdfunding effort.

Last weekend, Cardiff commemorated Sala during their match in the Premier League. FC Nantes did something similar last week during their match in the French League.