Premier League club Cardiff City’s record new signing, Argentine striker Emiliano Sala, is missing presumed dead after a light aircraft he was travelling in disappeared over the English Channel.
Sala, signed on Saturday from French club Nantes for a reported fee of 17 million euros ($19.3 million), was flying to Cardiff aboard a small plane that disappeared from radars around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Guernsey on Monday night.
French civil aviation authorities confirmed that 28-year-old Sala “was on board the plane”. It is thought there was one other passenger on the aircraft.
A statement from police on Guernsey, a British island just off the coast of France, said the pilot had requested to lower his altitude shortly before air traffic control in neighbouring Jersey lost contact with the plane.
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After a search was called off on Monday because of high winds, two helicopters, two planes and a lifeboat joined renewed efforts on Tuesday morning to find the single-propeller plane.
“One plane, one lifeboat are still searching. Another plane will rejoin after refuelling. 1,155 square miles have been searched. A decision whether to search overnight will be taken at sunset,” Guernsey police said at 1610 GMT.
Fearing the worst
Meanwhile, one of the rescuers searching for the missing plane admitted they were “fearing the worst”.
“Sadly we are fearing the worst, the sea temperature is so cold at the moment,” John Fitzgerald, Chief Officer of Channel Islands Air Search, told AFP.
“If it came down as an uncontrolled landing, the plane would’ve broken up, in which case there is no hope,” said Fitzgerald, whose volunteer-staffed company assists British and French coastguards.
Sala’s father, Horacio, earlier told Argentine television station C5N he was “distraught” at the news, which he discovered from press reports.
“I don’t know anything, I haven’t had any information. I can’t believe it, it’s incredible,” he said. “I’m distraught. Hopefully everything will be OK.”
Sala, who had been at Nantes since 2015 and had scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, had signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with relegation-threatened Cardiff subject to receiving international clearance.
ALSO READ: Cardiff in ‘shock’ over Emiliano Sala’s disappearance
“We were very shocked upon hearing the news that the plane had gone missing. We expected Emiliano to arrive last night into Cardiff and today was due to be his first day with the team,” the Premier League club’s executive director Ken Choo said in a statement.
“We continue to pray for positive news.”
Cardiff called off a training session planned for Tuesday morning, while Nantes have had their French Cup tie against third-tier side Entente Sannois Saint-Gratien postponed from Wednesday until Sunday.
Meanwhile, Nantes fan group ‘A La Nantaise’ released a statement calling for supporters of Sala’s former club to gather in the centre of the city for a vigil on Tuesday evening.
“I still have hope, he is a fighter,” said Nantes president Waldemar Kita in a tweet published by the Ligue 1 club.
When he put pen to paper at relegation-threatened Cardiff on Saturday, Sala, who also has Italian nationality, said in a statement: “I’m very happy to be here. It gives me great pleasure and I can’t wait to start training, meet my new team-mates and get down to work.
“For me it feels special (to be the club’s record signing). I have come here wanting to work and to help my team-mates and the club.”
First Published: Jan 22, 2019 22:55 IST
Source: HindustanTimes