Cardiff striker Sala feared dead as plane disappears
Cardiff City’s new star Emiliano Sala was on board a light aircraft that disappeared en route to the Welsh capital for his club debut, France’s civil aviation authority said yesterday.
Sala was flying from the French city of Nantes to Cardiff when the plane lost radar contact off the English Channel island Guernsey late on Monday.
Rescue aircraft and boats had searched more than 1,000 square miles of sea for the single-engine Piper Malibu by midday yesterday, but: “no trace of the missing aircraft had been found,” Guernsey police said.
The 28-year-old Argentina-born forward joined struggling Cardiff City from FC Nantes last week for a club-record fee of about 17 million euros (US$19 million). He had played in France since 2012.
“We expected Emiliano to arrive last night into Cardiff and today was due to be his first day with the team,” club CEO Ken Choo said in a statement. “We continue to pray for positive news.” Yesterday’s training session was called off.
“The management and the whole club are staying hopeful and the whole FC Nantes family is praying for Emiliano Sala and the other passengers to be found safe and sound,” Nantes said in a statement.
British authorities contacted airfields along the coast to check if the plane had made an unplanned landing, but there was no sign it had, Guernsey police said.
The plane had been cruising at 5,000 feet when the pilot requested to descend to a lower altitude on passing Guernsey. It lost radar contact at 2,300 feet, the police said.
John Fitzgerald, chief executive of Channel Islands Air Search, said: “From what I gather, nothing has been seen as yet. If they are wearing the right dry suits or they got into a life raft, then the probability is not too bad.
“If they are in the water without any protection, the water is really too cold at the moment for any form of survival beyond an hour or so,” he told Sky TV news.
Sala’s father told Argentine TV channel C5N: “I didn’t know anything because I am away from home, I’m a truck driver. A friend who saw it on TV told me. I’m in despair. I pray that this ends well.”
A powerful and direct player, Sala equaled his career-best total of 12 goals — achieved in the past two seasons with Nantes — in 19 league games this season. He is fifth highest scorer in the French league, one behind Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar, who is the world’s most expensive player.
“He was a polite, nice and adorable player who was loved by everybody,” Nantes president Waldemar Kita told French TV channel CNews.
Nantes was due to play Entente Sannois in the French Cup today but the third-tier club said it was postponed until Sunday “following the disappearance of the plane of former player Emiliano Sala.”
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