London: British crash investigators launched an underwater operation to recover a body from the wreckage of the plane carrying Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala in the Channel.
“We are attempting to recover the body. If we are successful, we will consider the feasibility of recovering the aircraft wreckage,” an Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) spokesperson said in a statement, Tuesday.
The light aircraft carrying the 28-year-old footballer and pilot David Ibbotson to his new Premier League team Cardiff City disappeared January 21 near the British island of Guernsey.
The shipwreck hunter hired by Sala’s family with the help of funds donated by football stars such as Lionel Messi found the plane wreckage Sunday. The AAIB has since taken over operations.
The AAIB revealed Monday that an unidentified body had been found at the site. But it warned on Tuesday that strong tides ‘mean we can only use the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for limited periods each day’.
Shipwreck hunter David Mearns had earlier warned that ‘time is of the essence’ in an underwater operation like the one being launched by Britain off France’s northern coast.
“As tragic as the loss is, it’s made much, much worse if the body is never recovered or (the family) never get an answer to what happened,” Mearns informed. “Finding it is just the starting point. The AAIB has got to investigate it.”
Sala was flying to join up with Cardiff from his old French team Nantes. His signing was the most expensive in the Welsh club’s history and marked what fans had hoped would be a turning point in its bid to avoid relegation from England’s top division.
“There’s no longer any hope,” Horacio Sala, Emiliano’s father, told ‘Fox Sports’, acknowledging there was no longer any prospect of finding his son alive. “We hope the two bodies are inside (the plane). It’s over, the only thing I hope now is that they find them.”
AFP