Premier League club Cardiff City’s record new
signing, Argentina-born striker Emiliano Sala,
was on board a light aircraft that disappeared
over the English Channel on Monday night,
police sources told AFP.
Sala, signed by Cardiff on Saturday from
French club Nantes for a reported 17 million
euro ($19.3 million) fee, was flying to Cardiff
aboard a small plane that disappeared from
radars around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north
of the island of Guernsey.
A statement from police on Guernsey, a British
island just off the coast of France, said
lifeboats and helicopters had searched for
several hours for the plane, which had two
people on board, without success.
“The search was terminated at 02:00, with all
search and rescue assets being stood down,
due to strengthening winds, worsening sea
conditions and reducing visibility,†the
statement said.
Helicopters from the British and French
coastguard joined renewed efforts on Tuesday
morning to find the plane which is thought to
have crashed.
Sala, 28, who had been at Nantes since 2016
and had scored 12 league goals this season,
had signed a three-and-a-half-year contract
with relegation-threatened Cardiff subject to
receiving international clearance.
When he put pen to paper at Cardiff on
Saturday, he 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.â€
