His death had moved the whole world.

Emiliano Sala, 28, died in the crash of his private plane while he was traveling to Cardiff, where he had just been transferred for 17 million euros, on January 21, 2019, was unconscious at the time of the accident according to the conclusions of the Dorset court (south of England) delivered on Thursday 17 March.

The body of the FC Nantes player was found in the carcass of the device more than two weeks after the accident, 67 meters deep.

The body of the 59-year-old pilot has not been found.

After five weeks of hearing, the jury held, as the medical examiner had concluded, that the footballer succumbed to injuries to the head and chest, but that he was probably deeply unconscious.

Emiliano Sala was reportedly asphyxiated by toxic levels of carbon monoxide from the aircraft's faulty exhaust system during this unauthorized commercial flight between France and Wales.

The carbon monoxide hypothesis was raised in the British Air Accidents Investigation Bureau's final report, published in March 2020. 

During the criminal trial in mid-November, David Henderson, 67, who organized the flight, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for hiring a pilot he knew was unqualified and for carrying a passenger without valid authorization.

He would have lost control of the aircraft during a maneuver carried out at too high a speed before the plane crashed into the sea at a speed of 270 miles per hour (435 km/h), leaving no hope of survival.

In addition to this criminal trial, had been opened, as provided for in the British judicial system, an "inquest" procedure intended to determine the causes of the footballer's death.

AFP

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