Feb. 4 (UPI) — The wreckage of a plane transporting Argentine soccer player Emiliano Salo has been found, according to the search team.
Salo, 28, was aboard a U.S.-registered Piper Malibu Plane, flying from Nantes, France, to Cardiff, Wales, when it disappeared over the English Channel on Jan. 21.
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
He said the families of Sala and Ibbotson, who was registered as its pilot, have been notified by police.
“Tonight our sole thoughts are with the families and friends of Emiliano and David,” Mearns wrote.
Formal search by British authorities for the single-engine plane was called off Jan. 24 as the “chances of survival at this stage are extremely remote,” Guernsey police Harbour Master Capt. David Barker said in a statement.
A privately funded search by the Sala family started Sunday. It was headed by Mearns, the director of Blue Water Recoveries, aboard the FPV Morven vessel, CNN reported.
Mearns’ team was working closely with UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch during its three-day search of the area where the plane went missing, AAIB said on Twitter.
The star striker was en route to his new English Premier League club Cardiff City, where he had recently signed a reported $19.3 million contract, from his former French team in Nantes.
Cardiff City held a ceremony for Sala prior to its game against Arsenal last week, the team’s first match since he went missing.
