Everything you need to know about Emiliano Sala missing.
Everything you need to know about Emiliano Sala missing.
Emiliano Sala was returning to Cardiff on Monday after signing for
the club at the weekend
There is "no hope" of finding missing Cardiff City
footballer Emiliano Sala alive, a rescue official has said.
The Argentine striker, 28, and a pilot were on board the plane which
lost contact off Alderney in the Channel Islands on Monday night.
Chief officer of Channel Islands Air Search, John Fitzgerald, said
"even the most fit person" would only last a few hours in the water.
The search for the missing aircraft and its occupants resumed on
Wednesday.
Sala reportedly sent a WhatsApp voice message to family. Sounding
conversational and jokey, he said he was "so scared".
Media in Argentina reported he said: "I'm on a plane that looks
like it's going to fall apart."
Guernsey Police said there were three planes and one helicopter in
the air as they searched for traces of the Piper Malibu plane.
The force said: "There is as yet no trace today of the missing
aircraft. The search is ongoing and a decision whether to continue will be
taken later today."
Officers are also "reviewing satellite imagery and mobile phone
data to see if they can be of any assistance in the search".
Sala was heading to the Welsh capital after signing for the Bluebirds
from French club Nantes in a £15m deal.
The single-engine plane left Nantes, north-west France, at 19:15 on
Monday and had been flying at 5,000ft (1,500m) when it contacted Jersey air traffic
control requesting descent.
It lost contact while at 2,300ft (700m) and disappeared off radar
near the Casquets lighthouse, infamous among mariners as the site of many
shipwrecks, eight miles (13km) north-west of Alderney.
Mr Fitzgerald said: "Sadly, I really don't think, personally,
there is any hope. At this time of year the conditions out there are pretty
horrendous if you are actually in the water."
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