Plane Carrying Emiliano Sala Found; The Former Still Missing!

Despite the investigation came up with a massive breakthrough, the 28-year-old former Nantes player and 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson are presumed dead.

Emiliano Sala was due for starting his new career with Premier League side Cardiff City following the club’s record-breaking €15-Million deal.

With the hopes of taking his new club out of the relegation zone, Sala boarded the Piper Malibu N264DB alongside David from Nantes; however, the aircraft lost control of the air traffic as it vanished near the Channel Islands on 21 January.

Some Respite After Two Weeks!

Since the initial search for the aircraft went off after three days of the accident as the search party was unable to locate any signs of the missing plane, Sala’s family decided to launch a crowdfunding page in the hopes of financing a private search. 

Following that, the investigation incorporated by the private research team and the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) got underway on Sunday morning.

Two vessels, FPV Morven led by the private research team and Geo Ocean III led by the AAIB widened for the traces of the missing plane. After a detailed investigation, the director of the private search team, David Mearns passed the news of locating the wreckage of the aircraft via his Twitter handle.

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 AAIB ship has remained at the wreckage site and will carry out the underwater search. It is expected that the update on the operation will be official on Monday Morning.

AAIB’s ship Geo Ocean III will undergo further operations around the plane wreckage (Picture Source: BBC)

The missing aircraft was found four days after two seat cushions, believed to be from the plane, were located on a beach near Surtainville, on France’s Cotentin Peninsula.

AfterMaths of Tragic Incident

This unfortunate incident has rocked hard the missing footballer’s friends and family. Besides, it also keeps the global football fans emotionally stroked. Every football lovers are still hoping for Sala’s miracle return with ‘#PrayforSala’ chants.

Cardiff’s Striker Bobby Reid pays tribute to Emiliano Sala following his goal against Bournemouth on Saturday (Picture Source: The Sun)

Meantime, Sala’s former club Nantes has had an emotional tribute for their prolific striker. Besides, the club he was due to join- Cardiff City had a touching home-ground tribute for the Argentine forward ahead of their Saturday’s PL clash against Bournemouth.

Who Is Emiliano Sala?

Born as Emiliano Raul Sala Taffarel on 31 October 1990, Sala is a professional football player hailing from Cululu, Santa Fe, Argentina. With a great passion for football, Sala kick-started his professional career at an early age with San Martin de Progreso.

Following that, he played for Bordeaux from the 2010-11 season; afterwards, he landed his contract with another League 1 club Nantes in 2015. Sala scored 42 goals in 120 appearances for Nantes in the span of four years. As the striker dreamt of beginning his new career with English side Cardiff following a €15-Million winter transfer, his aircraft went missing.