Argentine striker Emiliano Sala, is missing and presumed dead after a light aircraft he travelled in disappeared over the English Channel.
The Premier league club, Cardiff City’s new signing, signed on Saturday from French club Nantes for a reported fee of 17 million euros ($19.3 million).
He was flying to Cardiff with a small plane that disappeared from radars around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Guernsey on the night of Monday, January 21, 2019.
The French civil aviation authorities have confirmed that the 28-year-old football star was on board in the plane.
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.
A search was carried on but later called off on Monday because of high winds. On the morning of Tuesday, January 22, 2019, two helicopters, two planes and a lifeboat joined renewed efforts to find the single-propeller plane.
“So far over 1,000 square miles have been searched by a total of five aircraft and two lifeboats,” Guernsey police said at 1145 GMT.
“There has been no trace of the aircraft. The search is continuing.”
It is thought Sala was one of two passengers on board, but French civil aviation authorities were unable to confirm that.
READ ALSO: Usain Bolt Retires From Football, says “It Was Fun While it Lasted”
Sala has played at Nantes since 2015 and had scored 13 goals in all competitions this season. He signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with relegation-threatened Cardiff subject to receiving international clearance.
Neither of the two clubs has commented publicly on the disappearance, but Nantes have postponed their French Cup match against third-tier side Entente SSG on Wednesday as a mark of respect.
On Saturday, January 19, 2019, Sala had signed a contract at Cardiff and 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,” he added.
Sala’s last post on Instagram is a picture of him surrounded by players from Nantes. “La ultima ciao (the last goodbye),” he wrote.
Source: Goal.com
