He has been missing since one day: the police of the British Channel island of Guernsey has stopped the search for the missing small plane, with which the Argentine football professional Emiliano Sala flew over the English Channel. On Wednesday, according to police, although a new attempt will be made - the investigators are pessimistic: "If they landed on the water, the chances of survival are unfortunately bad."
The machine with the 28-year-old, a pilot and another passenger on board had disappeared from the radar on Monday evening about 20 kilometers north of Guernsey. A search of several hours during the night of Tuesday had been broken off without result due to strong winds, uneasy seas and poor visibility.
On Tuesday morning, the search was resumed with helicopters of the British and French Coast Guard, with an area of more than 1000 square miles was combed. "Some floating objects were spotted in the water, but we could not tell if they came from the missing plane and we did not find any signs of people on board," the police said on Tuesday night, after the search for the onset of darkness has ended.
FC Nantes cancel game - fans lay down flowers
The pilot had requested, according to police at the flight control on the neighboring island of Jersey to be allowed to reduce the altitude. Then the contact to the tower broke off. That Sala was in the machine, the French authorities confirmed. If the machine has fallen into the water, the chances of survival of the three occupants are extremely low - because the water temperature in the channel is currently only about ten degrees.
Sala had announced last Saturday his transfer from French first division club FC Nantes, for whom he scored twelve times in 19 league games, Cardiff City in the English Premier League. Out of "respect" for Sala, FC Nantes announced that it would postpone its cup game scheduled for Wednesday against third-division Entente SSG.
Next Tuesday night, the club called on its supporters to lay yellow tulips at a fountain in the city. Nantes club boss Waldemar Kita said: "He's a fighter, it's not over, maybe he's somewhere, we're waiting for news that we hope will be positive".