Four days after the
official calling off of the search for Emiliano Sala, his relatives are overseeing their own air and sea search for the missing Cardiff City footballer.
This is after more than
4,000 people contributed to a crowd-funding appeal.
The family
representatives chartered a plane on Monday to fly over Burhou Island and the
sea north of Alderney. Both spots are close to the plane’s last known position.
Onboard with
the family was the Guernsey harbourmaster, Capt David
Barker, who led the official search. He was explaining what searches he had led
and answering any of their questions.
Fishing boats
have been searching the area, and the shipwreck hunting expert David Mearns was
in the Channel Islands helping the family.
“The family
still has some hope, they’re looking at this as a missing person, a missing
plane, and until they are satisfied, that’s the mode that we’re in,” he said.
“This is a
family that has come from Argentina with this huge shock out of nowhere and
(is) struggling with what had happened, with very, very few answers about an
unexplained loss.
“Locally, the
search was terminated on Thursday and that was what triggered this private
search.”
Mearns added
that there may be “more investigative technical searches underwater” at some
point, but he also said “rough sea conditions” were a complicating factor.
Pleas for the
official search to resume have come from the player’s family, the Argentinian
footballers Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and Sergio Agüero, and the country’s
president, Mauricio Macri.
Donations from
footballers including Manchester City’s İlkay Gündoğan helped a GoFundMe page
raising money for a private search to surpass the €300,000 (£260,000) target.
An update
posted on the site when the target was reached said Sala’s family wanted to
thank people for their generosity.
More than
90,000 people have signed an online petition demanding
the official search for the missing aircraft be resumed.
The
harbourmaster said last week that the decision to stop actively searching had
been a “difficult” one, but the chances of survival after such a long period
are “extremely remote”.
The Air
Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has opened an inquiry that will include
whether the pilot, from Lincolnshire, had the correct licence. The Civil
Aviation Authority said the light aircraft was registered in the US, so was
subject to American regulations.
US law states
private pilots cannot make a profit by carrying passengers. The nature of the
arrangement between the player and the pilot is not clear.
The flight
left Nantes in France for Cardiff at 7.15pm
last Monday and, after requesting to descend, lost contact with Jersey air
traffic control over the Channel.
It has emerged
the football agent Willie McKay arranged for the flight to take Sala to
Cardiff, but he said he had no involvement in selecting the plane
or pilot.
Staff and fans
of Cardiff City, who signed Sala for a club record of £15m, are expected to
wear yellow daffodils during their match against Arsenal.
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