The bereft sister of missing £15million footballer Emiliano Sala sobbed today after she learned the search for him was called off as MailOnline revealed the plane’s part-time pilot’s licence is being probed.
The star striker’s sibling Romina broke down at a press conference in Cardiff after flying into the Welsh capital from Argentina to meet his club bosses and said: ‘I know he’s still alive’.
The six-seater Piper Malibu vanished on Monday off the coast of Alderney at 8.30pm but 72 hours on harbour master Captain David Barker said air and sea searches will stop because ‘the chances of survival at this stage are extremely remote’.
Ships passing through the Channel are now being asked to look out for debris – but Sala’s family are furious at the decision to stop searching for the 28-year-old after less than three days.
Romina Sala today begged: ‘Please, please, please don’t stop the search. We understand the effort but please don’t stop the search. I know he’s still alive. He’s a fighter’.
She added: ‘The last time I spoke to him was on Monday before he said farewell to the Nantes players. He was really excited about coming to Cardiff and we were talking all day.’
Captain Barker responded by saying: ‘I understand Emiliano Sala’s family are not content with the decision to end the search and I fully understand that. But I am absolutely confident we could not have done any more’.
Investigators are to probe the licence of missing part-time pilot Dave Ibbotson who flew the doomed journey across the Channel, MailOnline can exclusively reveal today.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) has confirmed it will look into whether the flight chartered by the son of mega-agent Willie McKay was legal.
Romina Sala’s sister sobbed today as she was told the search for her footballer brother Emiliano was called off after less than 72 hours
David Ibbotson, 60, (pictured left in the cockpit) has been named as the pilot at the controls of the privately-owned Piper Malibu aircraft carrying star footballer Sala (right) as it emerged the investigation into the missing plane will involve checking it was legal
Mr Ibbotson, from Scunthorpe, gained his private pilot’s licence in the US but does not have a commercial licence for paid for or scheduled flights
In Facebook posts in the hours before the doomed flight Mr Ibbotson told a friend he was ‘a bit rusty with the ILS (Instrument Landing System)’
Dave Ibbotson holds a British private pilot’s licence that allows him to fly passengers between airports as long as he doesn’t profit from any journey.
But if he was paid a fee amounting to more than his fuel costs and expenses to take Sala between France and Britain would be classed a commercial flight.
Missing Cardiff City star’s distraught ex-girlfriend calls for the ‘soccer mafia to be investigated’
Model Berenice Schkair, 27, made the extraordinary claim on social media after the new Cardiff City star’s plane went missing over the English Channel after taking off in Nantes, France
Emiliano Sala’s heartbroken underwear model ex-girlfriend has blamed the ‘football mafia’ after his plane vanished over the Channel and said: ‘I can’t believe this is an accident’.
Victoria’s Secret star Berenice Schkair, 27, made the extraordinary claim on social media after the new Cardiff City star’s plane went missing over the English Channel after taking off in Nantes, France.
Sala and his pilot last made contact from their Piper FA-46 Malibu just off Alderney at 8.30pm on Monday and the pair are missing presumed dead after wreckage was spotted in the sea.
On Twitter last night Berenice tweeted: ‘Investigate the football mafia because I don’t believe this was an accident’ before deleting it.
Lifeboats, helicopters and even locals in fishing boats have been scouring the sea for him – but have had to stop between dusk and dawn.
Posting photographs of them together, she wrote on Instagram: ‘Emi, my heart is broken. I still cannot understand it. I’m destroyed, I feel pain, fear and anger for not being able to do anything. I know you’re strong. We are waiting for you.
‘I want to wake up and all of this to be a lie. Please investigate because I cannot believe this is an accident. Don’t suspend the search for bad weather when you only just found objects floating.
‘They’re losing time and aren’t investigating. The thing I regret most is not having told you that you made me feel like I haven’t felt in a while and I love you. Why does this misfortune happen to such a fascinating man full of projects, hard working, a good person dedicated to his job’.
It came as the missing Premier League star’s heartbroken sister Romina met with Cardiff City officials, including manager Neil Warnock, having flown in from Argentina overnight as hope fades for her brother.
This afternoon a pilot involved in the search for the missing plane said there is ‘no chance’ of finding survivors.
Mike Tidd, from Channel Islands Air Search, told ITV: ‘The area has been very well covered, there is absolutely no chance of finding anybody alive now, the only thing that we might be able to do would be to pinpoint where the aircraft went in, but I think the radar trace is going to be the best opportunity of doing that.’
Mr Ibbotson passed his pilot’s test in America in 2014. The Federal Aviation Authority register in the US says he holds a British private pilot’s licence not a commercial licence needed for scheduled or ‘paid for’ flights.
An AAIB spokesman said today that as part of its investigation they will ‘establish the details of the booking and its operational arrangements’.
As part of the probe the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates pilots’ licences, will also be asked to confirm Mr Ibbotson had the instrument qualifications to fly ‘blind’ at night or bad weather and was properly insured.
The CAA today said it could not discuss the case or the missing pilot’s licence for data protection reasons.
Mark McKay, who was acting on behalf of Sala’s club FC Nantes, chartered the flight and Sala’s French agent Meissa N’Diaye also helped with the arrangements.
It is understood they used a company to organise the flight.
Mr Ibbotson, a gas engineer from Scunthorpe, was one of the roster of three or four pilots regularly used to fly footballers to France and may also have carried jockeys between race meetings.
Mr McKay said in a statement last night: ‘I can confirm that when Emiliano made myself and his agent Meissa N’Diaye aware that he wished to travel back to Nantes following his medical and signing on Friday, I began to look into arranging a private flight to take him to Nantes on Saturday morning.
‘That evening it was confirmed a plane was available to fly Emiliano on Saturday which could remain in Nantes until he was due to return to Cardiff on Monday and train on Tuesday.’
If investigators believe the doomed flight breached the Air Navigation Order act the Civil Aviation Authority has the power prosecute any individual involved in a booking.
Past cases have seen pilots or aviation companies who organised the flights in the dock – so is unlikely to lead to Mr McKay or Mr N’Dyiaye facing prosecution.
Previous cases have led to large fines and prison sentences of up to a year.
Mr Ibbotson, understood to be a part-time pilot who has also worked as a gas engineer and wedding DJ, is said to have flown Sala to Wales when the footballer agreed to sign last Friday.
The 60-year-old, whose nickname is ‘Dibbo’, has three children and lives with wife Nora near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and according to his Facebook account he checked into a hotel next to Nantes Airport on Saturday night and stayed until Monday.
He is said to be a highly-experienced pilot who specialises in private flights and parachute expeditions but it is unclear how many hours he has flown.
The law does allow private licence pilots to fly strangers who agree to help cover the cost of the trip – but crucially the pilot must prove they were planning to fly to the destination already and cannot make any profit on top.
The loophole has led to the rise of Uber-inspired websites connecting passengers with pilots to reduce the price of private flights between the UK and Europe from around £10,000 to £1,000 or less.
The most popular website offering this service is Wingly, who confirmed to MailOnline today that Sala’s flight was not booked through them.
Cardiff City today reiterated that it offered to get Sala to the UK from Paris – but the player told them he already had a flight booked.
Club CEO Ken Choo said: ‘We made offers for Emiliano to fly on commercial [flights] from Paris but the player said ‘don’t worry about that, I have alternative arrangements, I will see you at the [training] ground on Tuesday.
‘He requested our club officials pick him up from the airport in Cardiff on Monday night after touchdown at 8.45pm.
‘On hindsight, we should have pushed but we had communicated with the player and we had to respect the wishes of the player. “I think that is very important, we did not want to make the player uncomfortable on any arrangements’.
Romina Sala (pictured) begged the authorities not to give up looking for her missing brother who was ‘excited’ about his move to Cardiff
Model Berenice Schkair, 27, made the extraordinary claim on social media after the new Cardiff City star’s plane went missing over the English Channel after taking off in Nantes, France
The family of top football agent Willie McKay are believed to have chartered the plane taking Emiliano Sala to the UK when it vanished. His son Mark has also been involved in a number of high-profile transfers including Dimitri Payet’s £10.7million move to West Ham (together right)
The missing plane carrying football star Emiliano Sala may have stalled in mid air and crashed into the sea due to a deadly build-up of ice on the wings, aviation experts have said.
Timeline: How the Sala plane tragedy unfolded
‘The Last Goodbye’: Emiliano Sala posted this photograph on Instagram on Monday, bidding farewell to his old teammates at Nantes Football Club, after he signed a record £15 million contract with Cardiff City. It is believed to be the last photo of him
Friday, January 18: Sala travels to Cardiff to have a medical and discuss personal terms
Saturday, January 19: Cardiff agrees £15m deal with Nantes to sign the player who then flies back to France
Sunday, January 20: Argentinian star goes to say a final goodbye to his former teammates and poses for a poignant final photo (pictured). His pilot checks in at the city’s airport as he waits for him as he collects his belongings.
Monday, January 21: Sala boards flight from Nantes to Cardiff at 7.15pm but it disappears at 8.30pm
Wednesday, January 23: Search and rescue teams say there is ‘no hope’ and reveal operation around Alderney is now a recovery one, not a rescue mission
On Monday night the six-seater Piper Malibu carrying new Cardiff City signing Sala back from a last hurrah with his former teammates in Nantes fell off the radar over Alderney.
Sala and British pilot David Ibbotson, 60, are both feared dead after coastguards said yesterday that search efforts were now focused on recovery, with no hope of finding survivors.
The Sun reported that one aviation expert said: ‘There are reports that the footballer was texting saying the aircraft is shaking and breaking up are classic signs of icing on the wings’.
‘The pilot is most likely wrestling with a stall at 2,300ft.
‘It is likely, though, that the aircraft hit the water in one piece otherwise debris would have quickly been found.’
The single-prop plane had been flying at 5,000 feet before requesting a descent to 2,300ft from Jersey’s air traffic controllers. It reached that lower altitude before dropping off radar without any further radio contact.
Former pilot Alastair Rosenschein also said the plane may have become iced-up in the Arctic blast currently sweeping across northern Europe including the UK and France.
He said: ‘It’s already a fairly risky crossing to do in a single engine aircraft, especially in winter and definitely at night. There are icing problems too.
‘It’s a strange thing to do though to go and fly over water with one engine at night in winter because if your engine goes you’re going in the water’.
It came after it emerged the pilot of the plane, which was chartered by the son of a former football mega-agent, said he was ‘a bit rusty’ with its landing system hours before the doomed flight.
British pilot David Ibbotson, 60, checked into Nantes Atlantique Airport shortly before take-off after admitting to a friend on Facebook he had approached the runway ‘on the high side’ – but joked, tragically: ‘Better than on the low side’.
The American FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) records Ibbotson as having a British private pilot’s licence, issued in 2014, which entitled him to fly the single-engine aircraft. It is not a commercial licence, which would be required for scheduled flights.
The plane itself, built in 1984, is registered in the United States via a Norfolk company, Southern Aircraft Consultancy, which charges £450 per year to register their aircraft with the FAA.
Three years ago the Piper aircraft was delivered to the UK from Spain by David Henderson, a British pilot.
He told the BBC at the time: ‘One of the problems [of flying over water] is that ice can build up on the aircraft and if it gets too great then it would stop flying, and the only way to get rid of ice is to descend to warmer air.’
Hours later at around 8.30pm on Monday night the plane carrying him and his £15million passenger crashed into the Channel off Alderney and both men are missing, presumed dead.
It is thought he first flew the star back to France to say a ‘final goodbye’ to his former Nantes team-mates on Saturday, and was at the controls during the ill-fated final journey back to Britain 48 hours ago.
John Fitzgerald, chief officer of Channel Islands Air Search, said there is ‘no hope’ of finding the men because ‘even the most fit person’ would only survive for a few hours in the Channel in January.
Revealing the operation is now recovery, not a search for survivors, he said: ‘Sadly, I really don’t think, personally, there is any hope. At this time of year the conditions out there are pretty horrendous if you are actually in the water.’
The missing 1984 Piper Malibu aircraft is believed to be owned by an unnamed American who registered it with the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority using Suffolk-based company Southern Aircraft Consultancy.
A member of staff at the firm today refused to identify the individual or company owning the aircraft.
She told MailOnline: ‘They have asked us not to speak to the press. We don’t have any comment. We don’t have anything to do with the aircraft other than the fact that we registered it for them’.
The former sister-in-law of missing pilot David Ibbotson said she was shocked by the ‘awful news’.
Accounts adviser Linda Goodwin said she and her sister Georgina Gymer – the pilot and gas engineer’s first wife – had ‘no idea’ that he was onboard the doomed flight.
She said: ‘This is terrible, it’s shocking, we had no idea. He is my ex brother-in-law, I was at the wedding. He and my sister are divorced now but they have two children together. She lives in New Zealand and the kids, who are grown up, are in England. He got re-married.’
Ms Goodwin from Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, added: ‘My sister will be devastated, this is awful news for both families, for all of us. I heard about the missing footballer but had no idea that Dave was the pilot. No one told us, I’m quite numb. He’s a nice guy and I knew him well. It’s so sad.’
Cardiff City’s chairman Mehmet Dalman revealed that their new star, just signed for £15million from FC Nantes, turned down a commercial flight from Paris and chose to take a private plane instead.
The pilot missing with footballer Emiliano Sala was named as a British father-of-three and gas engineer from Scunthorpe.
David Ibbotson was at the controls of the privately-owned Piper Malibu aircraft believed to have crashed into the sea near Alderney on Monday night.
The pilot, whose nickname is ‘Dibbo’, is married with three children and lives with his wife Nora near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and according to his Facebook account he checked into a hotel next to Nantes Airport on Saturday night.
He is an experienced pilot specialising in private flights and parachute expeditions – but also is a qualified gas engineer running his own boiler repair company in North Lincolnshire.
In Facebook posts before the doomed flight, Mr Ibbotson told a friend he was ‘a bit rusty with the ILS (Instrument Landing System)’.
He tagged himself at Nantes Airport on Saturday before telling a friend ahead of his flight on Sunday: ‘Was not to (sic) bad when I got there but I’m a bit rusty with the ils, in France now.’
Today at the family home in Crowle, 10-miles from Scunthorpe, a sobbing woman told the Grimsby Telegraph: ‘We do not wish to give a comment.’
It came as aviation experts claimed that the Piper Malibu plane that Sala was travelling in had a ‘questionable’ safety record with 55 fatal crashes including 24 since 2000.
Former pilot Alastair Rosenschein said the plane may have become iced-up in the Arctic blast currently sweeping across northern Europe including the UK and France.
He said: ‘It’s already a fairly risky crossing to do in a single engine aircraft, especially in winter and definitely at night. There are icing problems too. It’s a strange thing to do though to go and fly over water with one engine at night in winter because if your engine goes you’re going in the water’.
Mr Sala’s heartbroken underwear model ex-girlfriend today blamed the ‘football mafia’ after his plane vanished over the Channel and said: ‘I can’t believe this is an accident’.
Victoria’s Secret star Berenice Schkair, 27, made the extraordinary claim on social media after the new Cardiff City star’s plane went missing over the English Channel after taking off in Nantes, France.
On Twitter last night Berenice tweeted: ‘Investigate the football mafia because I don’t believe this was an accident’ before deleting it.
Lifeboats, helicopters and even locals in fishing boats have been scouring the sea for him – but have had to stop between dusk and dawn.
Posting photographs of them together, she wrote on Instagram: ‘Emi, my heart is broken. I still cannot understand it. I’m destroyed, I feel pain, fear and anger for not being able to do anything. I know you’re strong. We are waiting for you.
‘I want to wake up and all of this to be a lie. Please investigate because I cannot believe this is an accident. Don’t suspend the search for bad weather when you only just found objects floating.
‘The thing I regret most is not having told you that you made me feel like I haven’t felt in a while and I love you. Why does this misfortune happen to such a fascinating man full of projects, hard working, a good person dedicated to his job’.
The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch said today the missing plane is a Piper PA-46-310P Malibu aircraft with the registration N264DB.
This is the plane that Sala and the pilot were in when in vanished over the sea – it appears to be registered to a company in Norfolk
The couple were together for some time – and may have become engaged – before they split last year, sources have said
Berenice tweeted that the ‘football mafia’ should be investigated in a clear claim the crash was deliberate – but later deleted it
The model posted a series of message on Instagram where she said she had not given up hope that her ex would be found alive
When asked by Argentine media outlet Infobae for a comment, she said: ‘The only thing I want is for him to show up. Out of respect for the family I’d prefer to wait, I’m going to say what I need to say in a few days.’
‘Questionable’ safety record of missing plane that has suffered 55 fatal crashes, expert claims
Aviation expert and former pilot Alastair Rosenschein said Sala shouldn’t have been making the journey and claimed the plane had an unsatisfactory safety record.
The Piper Malibu PA-46 has had 55 fatal crashes, including 24 since 2000.
He said: ‘It’s very surprising that they should ask to descend at night over water in a single engine aircraft. It’s already a fairly risky crossing to do in a single engine aircraft, especially in winter and definitely at night. There are icing problems too.
‘Why he would have asked to descend one can only speculate, but one of the reasons to descend could have been to get out of an icing layer where ice forms on the wings or on the propeller so the aircraft descends to slightly warmer air.
‘The other reason could have been to remain clear of cloud but at night you’re not going to see anything anyway, so it really is unexplained at the moment.
‘It’s a strange thing to do though to go and fly over water with one engine at night in winter because if your engine goes you’re going in the water.’
Mr Rosenschein said the Piper Malibu plane that Sala was travelling in had a questionable safety record.
He said: ‘When I looked it up it has had over 160 serious crashes that’s a fairly large number – 55 of them were fatal accidents that’s a large number for an aircraft that does not have such a large production number.
‘Since the year 2000 there have been 24 fatal crashes.
‘One can’t compare what we call general aviation or light aircraft flying with commercial flying which is extremely safe and accidents are very rare.
‘General aviation is flown primarily by amateurs these will be people wealthy enough to buy an aircraft who generally don’t have a great deal experience or recency – although one doesn’t know the experience of the pilot involved.’
Mr Rosenshein said there was little chance the plane would have been fitted with a black box or similar device to aid rescuers in the search for it.
He said: ‘There are some private aircraft where they have this but it is an unlikely scenario. The important thing now is to continue with the search and rescue.
‘If they survived the ditching as we call it and got into a life raft then the chances of them being rescued remain reasonable but if they got into the water then at this time of the year the water is very cold and it’s not a survival situation.’
The model was born in the Tres de Febrero area of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires and is believed to have been going out with the footballer for a few months last year.
Reports in their home country suggest they may even have been engaged before they split up.
Guernsey Police said today they are ‘prioritising’ the theory that the new £15million Cardiff City player and the pilot made it out of the wreckage found floating in the Channel last night.
They are also working on three other possibilities – that the plane was grounded on dry land either in the Channel Islands or France, the pilot and Sala were picked up by a passing ship or they are dead in the water.
French media had reported pilot David Henderson, 60, was flying the missing Piper Malibu PA-46, which disappeared near the Channel Islands on Monday night.
Mr Henderson later took to Facebook to confirm he was alive and well and it is unknown who was flying the missing PA-46.
But in 2015, Mr Henderson appeared in a BBC video about his life as a transatlantic pilot and described the dangers of flying a Piper Malibu.
In fact, Mr Henderson told how he would always wear a neoprene wetsuit and packed a life raft in the back to give him ‘6 or 7 or 8 hours survivability’ in case he ditched into the Atlantic.
He is filmed sitting in the cockpit of a plane – serial number N264DB – the same as that of the missing flight, according to reports on the Aviation Safety Network Wiki page.
According to South Wales Aviation Group that same plane – a 1984 Piper serial number N264DB – took off from Rhoose, near Cardiff, on Saturday destined for Guernsey, presumed to be en route to France.
Speaking to the BBC in 2015, Mr Henderson described the potential problems with the plane.
‘One of the problems we can encounter is that ice can build up on the surfaces of the aircraft,’ Mr Henderson explains.
‘On the propeller and the wings and if it gets too great the aeroplane would ultimately stop flying.
‘And the only way in most of the aeroplanes we fly to get rid of ice is to descend into warmer air and the ice will dissipate’.
Emiliano’s father broke down ‘in despair’ today after hearing his son’s final message where he warned he was ‘scared’ on board a ‘plane that seems like it is falling to pieces’ minutes before it vanished over the Channel.
In the chilling recording on Monday night the Argentine footballer, 28, sounds exhausted and can’t stop yawning as he tells loved ones in Spanish they may need to ‘send someone to find me’.
Before the ‘bumpy’ flight began the pilot needed up to four attempts to take-off from Nantes in Brittany at 7.15pm as he prepared to start his new life in Cardiff after a £15million transfer.
In a final WhatsApp audio message sent to his friends, where the sound of the plane’s engine is heard in the background, Sala said: ‘I was over in Nantes sorting things out.
‘I am now aboard a plan that seems like it is falling to pieces. I’m going to Cardiff now, crazy, and tomorrow we get going. I will train with my new team’.
He added: ‘If you do not have any more news from in an hour and a half, I don’t know if they need to send someone to find me. I am getting scared!’
Who is Willie McKay? How football mega-agent has brokered some of the biggest transfers in history (and his twin sons are on the books at Cardiff)
Left, football agent Mark McKay and right, his son Mark – who also works as an agent – with his girlfriend Rachel Morse
His twin sons Paul and Jack, both 22, are both Cardiff players, having previously played together at northern giant Leeds United
Former football agent Willie McKay, who for years was based in Monaco, was one of the most successful agents in the game, brokering huge contracts over the years and pulling the strings to secure some of the biggest transfers in history.
In his career he was involved in 485 deals, including acting for Queens Park Rangers during negotiations to sign Joey Barton on a free transfer.
He has represented Joey Barton, Charles N’Zogbia, Ross McCormack, Pascal Chimbonda and Amdy Faye, among others.
His twin sons Paul and Jack have gone on to become footballers while his other son Mark followed his career path to become a football agent.
McKay, who was born in Scotland, was one of five men arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting in November 2007 as part of the City of London Police football corruption probe before he was cleared of any wrongdoing 18 months later.
In December 2008, he was given a suspended ban by the FA for breaching regulations by acting for two different clubs in two consecutive transfers of Portsmouth and Manchester City striker Benjani.
His footballing twins Jack and Paul McKay, 22, have been on the books of Doncaster Rovers, Leeds United and Cardiff City.
Mark McKay posted this photo of himself with friends and family on social media in 2015
Mark McKay – who helped West Ham sign Dimitri Payet from Marseille in 2015 – often posts photos from his lavish holidays
Left, Willie McKay with wife Janis. His son Mark, right, was the director of the Glasgow-based company Excelfoot Ltd, which went into liquidation in 2017
The brothers began their football education in France and had offers to go to other academies but settled at hometown club Doncaster when they were 16 years old.
Jack is a striker who has spent time out on loan with the Scottish League One outfit, while Paul plays at centre-back.
In 2016, Leeds United signed the twins, then aged 19, for undisclosed fees on two-and-a-half-year deals from Doncaster Rovers.
In mid-January last year they joined Cardiff City after a short trial with the Bluebirds’ Under-23s. Earlier this month it was announced Paul McKay was joining Morecambe on loan.
McKay’s other son Mark followed in his father’s footsteps and also works as a football agent, helping West Ham sign Dimitri Payet from Marseille in a £10.7million move in 2015.
Mark was the director of the Glasgow-based company Excelfoot Ltd, which went into liquidation in 2017.
McKay’s son Mark (pictured left and right) followed in his father’s footsteps and also works as a football agent, helping West Ham sign Dimitri Payet from Marseille in a £10.7million move in 2015.
McKay’s son Mark (pictured with his partner), who followed his father into a career as a football agent posts photos from around the world
Emiliano Sala (pictured on board a plane late last year) sent a WhatsApp recording to his loved-ones on board the small plane just before it vanished over the Channel
His father Horacio and his partner Liliana (left) cling to one another as they wait for news from the Channel – but it is expected to be bad news about Sala (right with his brother Dario, sister Romina and mother Mercedes)
Horacio Sala, the tearful father of Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala, outside his home in Progreso, Argentina
The flowers and tributes outside the Cardiff City ground has been growing all day as rescue efforts become a recovery search
Scarves, shirts, flowers and messages have been left by fans of the club who broke their own record for a signing for Sala just days ago
Sala played in France for FC Nantes near the Brittany coast for the past four years and the city is united in grief holding a vigil
Flowers and candles are left with the front page of French sports daily newspaper ‘L’Equipe’ reading ‘The disappearance of a warrior’ next to a portrait of Emiliano Sala in front of the entrance of the FC Nantes football club training center La Joneliere in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre
Flowers, scraves and shirts flowers were also left around the Fred Keenor statue, where the Sala had just signed a deal to play in the Premier League
Cardiff City announced the signing of the Argentinian striker (pictured with Ken Choo) in a club record fee of £15 million
Cardiff City: Sala booked his own flight – not us
Missing soccer star Emiliano Sala booked his own ‘risky’ private flight across the English Channel after turning down a commercial flight from Cardiff City, it was revealed today.
The £15million player was offered a flight from bosses at new club Cardiff City but wanted to make his own travel arrangements from his former club in Nantes.
City chairman Mehmet Dalman (pictured) said they were ‘still praying’ for positive news but are devastated after Sala’s plane disappeared on Monday night.
Sala, 28, was due to join his teammates in South Wales yesterday morning for training but never arrived after his 460-mile journey from Nantes to Cardiff Airport.
The plane disappeared over the Channel Islands and search teams have found no sign of a wreckage or survivors.
But Mr Dalman said Sala the flight on the Piper Malibu plane – which experts described as ‘risky’ – was not booked by the club.
Mr Dalman said: ‘We spoke to the player and asked him if he wanted us to make arrangements for his flight which, quite frankly, would have been commercial. He declined and made his own arrangements.
‘I can’t tell you who arranged the flight because I don’t know at this stage – but it certainly wasn’t Cardiff City.’
He revealed that Cardiff’s hard man manager Neil Warnock was ‘in a state of shock’ after hearing the news.
At home in Argentina his family, including father Horacio and mother Mercedes, are clinging to the hope he will be found alive, but more than 36 hours after his disappearance it appears unlikely.
Earlier it emerged he told his former Nantes teammate he ‘feared for his safety’ before he took off on his doomed flight across the English Channel.
The Argentinian striker completed a £15 million move to Cardiff City on Saturday. He returned to bid farewell to his old squad at Ligue 1 side Nantes, posting a poignant photo in which his former teammates sport their club’s blue strip, and Sala is wearing a hoodie with the logo: ‘Be good, be nice.’
His Instagram post of the photo bore the caption: ‘The last goodbye’.
Sala was making a round trip in the same plane and when he arrived in France, he reportedly told ex-teammate Nicolas Pallois – who drove him back to Nantes-Atlantiqe airport – that the trip out ‘had been bumpy and he feared his safety for the journey back.’
A French source close to the player said the six-seater plane only got airborne for the return trip after at least three failed attempts to take off from Nantes.
The 28-year-old was due to return to Wales in time for training this morning but the Piper Malibu aircraft he was in lost contact near the Casquets lighthouse off Alderney at 8.30pm on Monday.
Cardiff City chief executive Ken Choo said everyone at the club was ‘very distressed’ and ‘praying for positive news.’
On Tuesday at 5pm Channel Islands rescue teams called off the search for the day. It is expected to resume today at first light.
In a statement Guernsey Police said: ‘During the course of the 15-hour search, which used multiple air and sea assets from the Channel Islands, UK and France, a number of floating objects have been seen in the water.
‘We have been unable to confirm whether any of these are from the missing aircraft.
‘We have found no signs of those on board. If they did land on the water, the chances of survival are at this stage, unfortunately, slim.’
John Fitzgerald, chief officer of the Channel Islands Air Search, said he was not optimistic about finding Sala and the pilot.
He said: ‘I don’t think the coastguard are either. We just don’t know how it disappeared. It just completely vanished. There was no radio conversation’.
Mr Fitzgerald said there could be a ‘five per cent’ chance of finding Sala and the pilot, adding: ‘I think with the sea temperatures and the sea conditions the chances of finding anybody alive are reducing all the time.
‘The sea temperatures are very, very cold and just sap the core temperature of anybody in the water very, very quickly.’
The footballer’s mother, Mercedes Taffarel, said her son was ‘enjoying the best moment of his career so far.’ Sala posted this image of himself with his mother alongside the caption, ‘Thank you mum’
Emiliano Sala and Ken Choo CEO on January 18 in Cardiff as the striker got set to sign his three-and-a-half-year contact
John Fitzgerald, chief officer of the Channel Islands Air Search, said he was not optimistic about finding Sala and the pilot. Pictured left, an RNLI lifeboat searches off Alderney. Right: 1,150 square miles were searched on Tuesday before nightfall
The aircraft left Nantes at 19.15 on Monday headed for Cardiff and was flying at 5,000 feet before it fell off the radar at 2,300ft during a descent cleared with Jersey air traffic controllers
This graphic shows the lifeboat’s path as it circled Alderney during a nearly-24-hour-long search for the aircraft
French police, the French civil aviation authority and Nantes Football Club confirmed that Sala was one of the two people on board the single-prop plane.
The Piper Malibu was flying at 2,300ft and requested descent as it passed Guernsey but was lost off radar as Jersey air traffic control attempted to make contact. It went missing as severe weather warnings about snow and ice were issued across France.
A search which scrambled within minutes of the plane disappearing was called off at 2am on Tuesday morning ‘due to strengthening winds, worsening sea conditions and reducing visibility’ but resumed at 8am, before being halted overnight again at sunset on Tuesday.
Thousands of people have joined vigils in France and in Wales, and have laid wreaths outside Sala’s former club in Nantes, and outside the ground of Cardiff City where he was due to start training on Tuesday morning.
Flowers were laid at the base of the statue of Cardiff City footballer Frederick Charles Keenor outside the stadium
Flowers, scarves, signs and candles have been left outside the Cardiff City ground for missing footballer Emiliano Sala
Welsh daffodils have been laid outside the Cardiff City ground in Wales as the team suspended training today
In Nantes where Sala has played since 2015, the flag of his native Argentina sat side by side with yellow tulips and candles
Nantes fans came to the ground to hold a vigil for their missing former player Emiliano Sala, in the hopes an air and sea rescue mission might still report good news
A fan poses with an edition of France Football with the former Nantes star on the cover, in a vigil for the player
Outside the stadium in Nantes many fans held up Sala’s number 9 shirt. He had returned to bid farewell to his former team mates before starting a new chapter of his career in the UK
Supporters proudly held flags and shirts, and laid yellow tulips as they paid tribute to Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala
Tearful fans held scarves and candles tonight in Nantes as the Channel Islands called off their S&R mission overnight when darkness fell. It is due to start again on Wednesday morning but officials said hopes of survival in the cold water were ‘slim’
Sala, pictured with Bluebirds CEO Ken Choo, became the club’s record signing last week after joining for a fee of £15m. Cardiff released this image of Sala posing with Choo on Saturday as he was given a private tour of their facilities
This morning the official Nantes FC Twitter account posted a statement and a message to their followers about the missing striker, reading: ‘The management and the whole Club are hopeful and it is the whole family of FC Nantes who prays that @EmilianoSala1 and the other passengers of the plane are finally found safe and sound.’
‘FC Nantes joins the call of supporters for the rally tonight from 6.30 pm at the Royal Place in Nantes to drop a yellow tulip at the foot of the fountain,’ they added in a second tweet.
The club later changed its profile picture to a photo of Sala.
Sala’s former teammate, French Guingamp midfielder Lucas Deaux, tweeted: ‘I hope from the bottom of my heart that this is not true.’
Sala was ‘fulfilling the dream of a lifetime’ by moving to the UK, and ‘could not wait to start playing in Cardiff’, according to a friend in France.
When he left the grounds yesterday to head to Cardiff, Nantes FC tweeted: ‘Merci Emi, forever yellow and green.’
After joining Cardiff on Saturday, Sala’s sister Romina proudly shared the news story about his signing, saying: ‘Big brother :D’.
His father Horacio told Argentine channel C5N he was made aware of the news by a friend.
He said: ‘A friend called me and told me what had happened. I’m in Rosario now, I’m working because I’m a truck driver. I didn’t know anything. I just can’t believe it. I’m desperate. I don’t know what could have happened.’
He said striker Emiliano, from the small town of Progreso in Argentina’s northeastern Santa Fe province, had been excited to be moving to Cardiff and playing in the Premier League.
He added: ‘To get the chance to play at a big European club was an amazing step for him and for his town back home. He is a humble small town boy. Everybody is watching the TV and waiting. Hopefully some good news arrives.’
His mother, Mercedes Taffarel, told the same TV station: ‘We don’t have any more news. The only thing I know is that the plane took off and they are searching for it, we don’t know anything yet, they haven’t found anything.
‘We are just here waiting, minute after minute. I spoke to him a few hours before he took off. I don’t know what else to say, I’m so worried.
‘They called me from France to tell me that his plane had gone missing and they were looking for him.
‘We are in constant communication and desperate for good news. He was very happy and content with the transfer. He was enjoying the best moment of his career so far.
‘He would come over often to visit us, and we would go to visit him there. He was alone, he didn’t have any family members with him in France.’
The Premier League club had signed Sala on a three-and-a-half-year contact on Saturday.
Nantes announced their French Cup match due to be staged on Tuesday night against L’Entente Sannois Saint-Gratien had been postponed in agreement with the French Football Federation.
Amine Harit, a Moroccan footballer who played with Sala at Nantes before joining German side FC Schalke in 2017, tweeted ‘Emi..’ followed by a string of praying hands and crying emojis.
Nantes forward Randal Kolo-Muani retweeted Harit’s message on his personal account.
Sala is understood to be very close to his family in Argentina, and spoke to his mother who still lives there ‘most days’, but still believed his destiny was in Britain.
‘He’s in touch with his family all the time, mainly on WhatsApp,’ a Brittany-based source said.
‘His mum often visits, along with his brother and sister. He’s very loyal to them all, as he is to everybody.
‘The English Premiership was his dream, though. Emiliano is also very religious. He prays a lot. His Catholic faith is very important to him.’
Speaking on TV channel CNEWS, Nantes President Waldemar Kita said today: ‘I think that he came back because he wanted to say goodbye to his friends.
‘He was a polite, kind and adorable boy, loved by everyone. He was very respectful, very courteous.
‘I am thinking about his family and all his friends. For the rest, we don’t know yet.
‘I am still hoping that it is not finished, that he is somewhere, that he will be there. I have just found about this.
‘I was not even aware that he was at Nantes. He is no longer owned by Nantes, he does what he wants.
‘And I say that because I am still hopeful that we will find him.’
The official Nantes FC Twitter account posted a statement and a message to their followers about the missing striker before changing its profile picture to a photo of him
Sala regularly entertained fans with social media posts from his training sessions, and enjoying time off with his teammates
Emiliano Sala with his sister Romina Sala, brother Dario Sala, and mother Mercedes Taffarel
Sala with his brother and sister. His family remain in Argentina, desperately awaiting updates
Sala posted this picture on Instagram two days ago – one day after he signed his new deal – alongside the caption, ‘There is a new Sala in town @premierleague. Very happy to sign here @cardiffcityfc !! I know the challenge is big but together we will make it. Impatient to discover the league & the team #BlueBirds’
Sala had celebrated his 28th birthday in October last year, and posted this photo on Twitter alongside his mother, thanking people for their messages
Sala was grew up in Progeso, an Argentine town with only 3000 inhabitants in Santa Fe province, in the centre east of the country.
‘As a kid, I watched a lot of the English championship on TV,’ he said in a recent interview in France.
Referring to two retired French players, Sala said: ‘I liked Arsenal, with Thierry Henry and Robert Pires.’
Sala has a younger brother, an electrician, and a sister, who is a care worker, both in Argentina.
He left home when he was 15 to become a professional footballer, but is immensely loyal to his roots.
Sala could have been set to make his debut at the Emirates against Arsenal on January 29.
Speaking on Saturday after signing for the Bluebirds, Sala said: ‘I can’t wait to start training, meet my new team-mates and get down to work.’
Also, speaking at the time of the unveiling, CEO & Executive Director, Ken Choo, added: ‘It’s obviously been a long process to secure the services of Emiliano, but I’m very pleased that we’re now in a position whereby we can confirm his signature and officially announce him as a Cardiff City player.
‘We see Emiliano as a significant acquisition and welcome him wholeheartedly to the Capital city of Wales. I’m sure all Cardiff City fans will join me in that and we can look forward to seeing our record signing in a Bluebirds shirt.’
Before switching to Cardiff, Sala was the third highest scorer in Ligue 1 this season with 12 goals, behind only Kylian Mbappe and Nicolas Pepe.
A Piper FA-46 Malibu light aircraft similar to the plane Sala described as sounding like it was ‘falling to pieces’ last night
Sala left Nantes to travel to Cardiff last night. The 28-year-old (pictured left and right in 2014), could have been set to make his debut at the Emirates against Arsenal on January 29
Emiliano Sala and Paris Saint-Germain forward, Kylian M’bappe are pictured during a game in the French Ligue 1
He said at the time: ‘For me it feels special [to be the Club’s record signing]. I have come here wanting to work and to help my teammates and the Club. I can’t wait to get to work straight away and do everything I can.’
Speaking earlier today, Mr Fitzgerald said the plane could have glided for around five or six miles without a working engine.
‘I am sure something will be found eventually. The plane was flying at 2,000ft when it dropped off the radar so it could have flown for about five or six miles before touching down.
‘But whether it was a controlled ditching or if it dived in, we just do not know.
‘If it was a controlled ditching, you would expect to find a life-raft but if it was uncontrolled I expect an oil slick and wreckage may be found.’
No decision on which country will investigate the disappearance of the aircraft carrying footballer Emiliano Sala has been announced.
Under global aviation guidelines, initial responsibility for an accident lies with the state where it occurred.
If a crash happens in international waters then the country where an aircraft is registered takes the primary role.
However, states often delegate responsibility if an accident happens far from their territory.
That means the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is likely to have some role in the inquiry into what happened to the aircraft which went missing over the Channel. An AAIB spokesman said: ‘We are liaising with the relevant authorities.’
Cardiff signed the forward in a deal reportedly worth in the region of £15million, breaking the previous record of £11million paid for Gary Medel in 2013. Sala is pictured here signing his contract on Saturday
The lighthouse on the Casquets rocks, off the coast of Alderney in the Channel Islands
Sala regularly posts photographs of his family on social media, including this one with his mother (left), which he captioned ‘Thank you, mum’. He is pictured with his mother, right, and his electrician brother and sister, who works in a care home
The plane lost contact near the Casquets lighthouse off the coast of Alderney
The striker often posted photos and videos with his beloved pet dog on his social media accounts
Not just talented on the pitch, Sala also showed off his musical ability as he posed with his guitar
Sala (far right) poses on the beach with his friends as he soaks up the rays in September 2018
Last year, Leicester City’s billionaire owner and four others were killed in a helicopter crash outside the club’s grounds.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s aircraft was seen spiralling through the sky and into the ground shortly after taking off from the King Power Stadium last October.
Pilot Eric Swaffer and his co-pilot Izabela Lechowicz, who was also his girlfriend, prevented greater loss of life by steering the doomed craft away from crowds of fans.
They died alongside Kaveporn Punpare, an assistant to Mr Srivaddhanaprabha and his colleague Nusara Suknamai, a former beauty queen who worked for the billionaire.
‘Not the day for this tweet. It really isn’t’: Gary Lineker slams Cristiano Ronaldo for posting grinning private jet selfie hours after Cardiff City plane tragedy
A smiling selfie taken on a private jet by Cristiano Ronaldo has been criticised by Gary Lineker who called it insensitive because Emiliano Sala’s plane had vanished hours earlier.
Sala is missing and presumed dead after the plane taking him to Cardiff from Nantes in France went down over the Channel Islands on Monday night.
Yesterday Ronaldo tweeted a triumphant thumbs up photo as he left Madrid for Turin after accepting a huge fine and suspended jail sentence for tax fraud, having struck a deal with Spanish prosecutors.
But former England captain and BBC pundit Gary Lineker replied ‘Not the day for this tweet. It really isn’t’ – in a clear reference to the Sala tragedy.
Mr Lineker’s tweet has split opinion with some backing his insensitivity claim with others saying Ronaldo would have had no idea about the tragedy in Channel.
Juventus footballer Cristiano Ronaldo posted a selfie – in fact, a photograph of himself taking a selfie – from his jet after leaving court in Madrid
Gary Lineker’s rebuke to the Portuguese international garnered nearly 30,000 likes in just a few hours, on the day football fans in France and Wales laid flowers and held candlelit vigils for missing Cardiff City player Emiliano Sala, whose single-prop light aircraft went missing on Monday evening
Sala and his pilot last made contact from their Piper FA-46 Malibu just off Alderney at 8.30pm on Monday. Today coastguard helicopters and lifeboats scoured 1,100 square miles of sea before halting the search at nightfall. They found nothing but debris and Guernsey Police said the pair’s chances of survival if they ditched in the icy waters were ‘slim’. They warned they are not expecting to find survivors.
In a Whatsapp audio note recorded on the doomed flight, Sala told friends he was ‘aboard a plan that seems like it is falling to pieces’ before going on to say ‘I am getting scared.’
Ronaldo, 33, who plays for Portugal and Juventus, will pay a total of 18.8million euros (£16.5million) after pleading guilty at a hearing in Madrid this morning. As he left the court he told the crowds ‘Everything’s perfect!’
Ronaldo, who went to court with his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez, also received a 23-month prison sentence which was immediately reduced to a further fine, and he will not spend a day in jail.
His former Real Madrid team-mate Xabi Alonso is also in court on a separate tax evasion charge, which could lead to a five-year sentence that – unlike Ronaldo – may see him behind bars if he is found guilty.
Smiling all the way: Cristiano Ronaldo arrives at court in Madrid with his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez today. He accepted a hefty fine for tax fraud during his time as a Real Madrid player
Day in court: Cristiano Ronaldo arrives at the Madrid court this morning where he accepted the deal with Spanish prosecutors over the tax fraud charges against him
Xabi Alonso, who played with Ronaldo at Real Madrid and also had spells at Liverpool and Bayern Munich, arrives for his tax evasion trial in the Spanish capital today
Ronaldo, who left Madrid last summer to join Juventus, wore a black jacket with buttons, white trainers and dark sunglasses as he arrived at court with his girlfriend.
Ronaldo’s lawyers had asked that he be allowed to enter the building by car to avoid the media spotlight.
But the court president refused the request, saying that despite his ‘great fame’, he would not ‘compromise security’ at the building.
The former Manchester United forward’s request to appear via video conference was also denied, so he walked up the court steps today and even signed autographs.
The court appearance lasted around 40 minutes as the deal was officially presented to the judge, who confirmed the final sentence later on Tuesday.