Image copyright Getty Images/David Ibbotson Image caption Emiliano Sala (left) was on board a plane being flown by pilot David Ibbotson

The family of the pilot of the plane carrying footballer Emiliano Sala which crashed into the sea have launched a fundraising appeal to find his body.

David Ibbotson of North Lincolnshire was flying the Cardiff City player from Nantes to the UK when their plane crashed near Guernsey on 21 January.

The footballer's body was recovered from the plane wreck on the seabed, but Mr Ibbotson's body has not been found.

Thousands of pounds have been raised on a Gofundme page in a few hours.

'Need him home'

On the page, the family of Mr Ibbotson, from Crowle, said: "As a family we are trying to come to terms with the tragedy and the loss of two incredible men.

"To be told the search has now been called off for the foreseeable future has only made this tragic time more difficult.

"We can not bear the thought of him being alone, we need him home so that we are able to lay him to rest."

The appeal has a target of £300,000.

Image copyright AAIB Image caption The AAIB released this photograph of the wreckage of the Piper Malibu found in 63m (205ft) of water north west of Guernsey

The Piper Malibu N264DB was en route from France to Cardiff, two days after the Argentine striker's £15m transfer to Cardiff was announced.

An official search was called off on 24 January after Guernsey's harbour master said the chances of survival were "extremely remote".

But an online appeal started by Sala's agent raised £324,000 (371,000 euros) for a private search led by marine scientist and oceanographer David Mearns.

Working jointly with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, Mr Mearns' ship and the Geo Ocean III, began combing a four square mile area of the English Channel, 24 nautical miles north of Guernsey.

The plane's wreckage was discovered on Sunday and Sala's body was recovered on Wednesday. </s> A body recovered from underwater wreckage of the plane carrying Emiliano Sala has been formally identified as the footballer, police said.

Sala (28) was identified by the Dorset coroner on Thursday after his body was pulled from the plane, which had been flown by pilot David Ibbotson, the previous day.

The families of both men have been informed, police said.

The force said in a statement: “The body brought to Portland Port today, Thursday, February 7th, 2019, has been formally identified by HM Coroner for Dorset as that of professional footballer Emiliano Sala.

“The families of Mr Sala and the pilot David Ibbotson have been updated with this news and will continue to be supported by specially-trained family liaison officers.

“Our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.

“HM Coroner will continue to investigate the circumstances of this death supported by Dorset Police.”

Cardiff City Football Club said in a statement: “We offer our most heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the family of Emiliano.

“He and David will forever remain in our thoughts.”

The Piper Malibu N264DB plane lost contact with air traffic control over the Channel, north of Guernsey, on January 21st.

An initial search and rescue operation failed to locate the plane but it was later discovered by the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) and privately funded search teams.

The aircraft remains 67 metres underwater around 33km off the coast of Guernsey in the English Channel as poor weather conditions stopped efforts to recover it.

The AAIB has said it expects to publish an interim report within the month.

Cardiff had signed Sala for a club record €17 million and he was due to start training last month.

Nantes has demanded payment from Cardiff for the player’s transfer. – PA </s> The family of Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala said Friday they could now begin mourning after his body was formally identified following its recovery from a crashed plane in the Channel.

"We can now begin to mourn our son and our brother," the Argentinian player's family said in a statement, also thanking everyone involved in the effort to locate the submerged wreckage off Guernsey.

"We would like to thank you for all of your signs of affection and support in the most painful time of our life," the family said.

"To see everyone doing everything possible to join us in the search has been a precious help to us."

The family said their thoughts were also with the family of the 59-year-old pilot of the plane, David Ibbotson, whose body has not yet been found, saying "we hope the authorities do everything possible to find him".

Sala had returned to France to say goodbye to his teammates at Ligue 1 club Nantes and was flying to Wales on January 21 to join up with his new club following his 17-million-euro ($19.3 million) transfer.

The plane, a Piper PA-46 Malibu, vanished from radar around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Guernsey.

A body has been recovered from the wreckage of the plane that was carrying Argentina-born professional soccer player Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) in Britain said late on Wednesday.

The agency did not disclose the identity of the body.

Sala, 28, had been en route from Nantes in western France on Jan. 21 to make his debut for Premier League team Cardiff City when the plane disappeared over the English Channel.

The Geo Ocean III, transporting a body recovered from the wreckage of a plane carrying Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala is docked in Weymouth harbour, south west England . (AFP)

The wreckage was found on Sunday following a privately-funded underwater search. Two seat cushions were discovered on the French coast that likely belonged to the aircraft.

A body was visible inside when the wreckage was on the seabed near Guernsey, air accident investigators had said on Monday.

The body was "successfully recovered" but attempts to recover the aircraft wreckage were unsuccessful, the AAIB said in a statement on Wednesday. The overall operation was brought to an end due to "poor weather conditions," the agency said.

Sala had agreed to join Welsh club Cardiff for a club-record fee of 15 million pounds ($19.63 million) from French Ligue 1 club Nantes.

He and the pilot are believed to have died as the single-engined Piper Malibu aircraft crashed into the sea.

On Saturday at Cardiff's home Premier League match against Bournemouth, the Cardiff players held up a T-shirt bearing the image of Sala, who never played a game for the club, after the team scored in the fifth minute.

Fans were handed daffodils as they entered the Cardiff City Stadium.

In the 28th minute, a round of applause swelled around the stadium as fans sang Sala's name.

On Jan. 30, Nantes payed tribute to their former player.

Referee Frank Schneider stopped play in the Ligue 1 match against St Etienne for a minute of applause during which Nantes coach Vahid Halilhodzic was in tears. </s> The Dorset Police Department have released an official statement that the body recovered from the plane belongs to that of missing footballer Emiliano Sala.

On the back of the confirmation that the body found was indeed Emiliano Sala’s, Cardiff City released a statement on their website and offered their heartfelt sympathies to the families of Sala and the pilot, David Ibbotson – whose body is yet to be sighted or recovered.

The search for the plane carrying the two of them, that went missing off the coast of Surtainville, north of Guernsey, had initially yielded no results but a publicly funded search that had raised over £300,000 had meant that the AAIB could resume the search in conjunction with private search teams.

After a couple of cushions believed to be belonging to the aircraft had washed ashore, investigators narrowed the search area down to 4 square miles and employed the use of sonar technology to finally locate the wreck on the seabed.

It was then that a body was discovered in the wreckage that has since been identified to be that of missing footballer Emiliano Sala. </s> THE family of the pilot presumed dead after a plane crash with footballer Emiliano Sala are “distraught with grief” as his body remains unaccounted for.

Investigators last night identified the body that was pulled from the plane wreckage at the bottom of the English Channel as that of the 28-year-old Argentine footballer.



Tributes from across the world have poured in for the Cardiff City striker and his pilot, David Ibbotson, whose plane crashed en route to Cardiff from Nantes, France, at around 7pm on January 21. 



Ibbotson’s family, meanwhile, face the agony of not knowing the whereabouts of his body after investigators called off the search and recovery operation on Wednesday. 



His wife Nora was last night said to be waiting in suspense for an update on the identity of the recovered body at her home in Crowle, near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. 



A local businesswoman who lives in the small village said Nora was “distraught with grief” last night as she was “waiting is agony” for the coroner’s verdict.

An anguished family member told the Mail Online: “What's happened is awful and all we want is for David's body to be found so we can lay him to rest properly, as he deserves, and pay our respects. 



“Not knowing where he is and if his body has been found or maybe never will be is the worst thing ever.”



“She is distraught with grief not knowing, the waiting is agony for her and her family and our hearts go out to them.”



Father-of-three Ibbotson, 59, was flying the The Piper Malibu 63 when the light aircraft lost contact with air traffic control over the Channel, north of Guernsey.

“All we want is for David's body to be found” The aircraft remains 67 metres underwater 21 miles off the coast of Guernsey in the English Channel as poor weather conditions stopped efforts to recover it.



A makeshift memorial to the gas fitter has appeared in his home village, where floral tributes has been left in the market square.



In one tribute, daughter Vicki said: “Daddio, Words cannot describe how much I am going to miss you. You are the best dad anybody could wish for and I will love you always.”



The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said poor weather conditions informed its decision to bring the operation to a close for the time-being. 



The AAIB has not given any indication when, or even if, the operation to find Ibbotson's body and recover the wreckage from the Channel will resume.

“Unfortunately, attempts to recover the aircraft wreckage were unsuccessful before poor weather conditions forced us to return the ROV to the ship,” the AAIB said in a statement. 



“The weather forecast is poor for the foreseeable future and so the difficult decision was taken to bring the overall operation to a close. The body is currently being taken to Portland to be passed into the care of the Dorset Coroner.



“Although it was not possible to recover the aircraft, the extensive video record captured by the ROV is expected to provide valuable evidence for our safety investigation.” 



An initial search and rescue operation failed to locate the plane but it was later discovered by the AAIB and privately funded search teams.



A private ship hired by his family – partly funded by donations – found the plane wreckage just hours into launching the search on Sunday morning. 



The body pulled from the wreckage was taken to Portland to be passed over to the Dorset coroner for examination on Thursday. 



Dorset Police said in a statement: "The body brought to Portland Port today, Thursday February 7 2019, has been formally identified by HM Coroner for Dorset as that of professional footballer Emiliano Sala.



"The families of Mr Sala and the pilot David Ibbotson have been updated with this news and will continue to be supported by specially-trained family liaison officers.



"Our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time."HM Coroner will continue to investigate the circumstances of this death supported by Dorset Police." </s> The video will start in 8 Cancel

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Investigators have confirmed that the body of Emiliano Sala has been recovered from the wreckage of his plane that went missing last month.

A body was pulled from the aircraft, which was found on the bottom of the ocean north of Guernsey, earlier this week.

The plane, which was carrying Sala and pilot David Ibbotson, disappeared off the radar around 8:30pm on January 21, as the Cardiff City striker was travelling from Nantes to the Welsh capital.

The investigation to find the plane was initially called off after three days, but Sala's family raised the funds to keep the search alive, with thanks to donations from the international football community.

Sala’s sister paid an emotional tribute to her tragic brother in the early hours of Friday morning.

Heartbroken Romina uploaded a photo of the star to Instagram after the news was confirmed.

“Your soul in my soul it will shine forever thus illuminating the time of my existence. I love you, tito,” she wrote.

Cardiff said in a statement: "We offer our most heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the family of Emiliano.

"He and David will forever remain in our thoughts."

Other tributes were paid by Arsenal player Mesut Ozil, Manchester City's Benjamin Mendy and Paris Saint-Germain footballer Kylian Mbappe.

A private search team announced that they had found the wreckage of the plane at the bottom of the English channel on February 4.

(Image: emilianosala9/Instagram)

One body was inside the aircraft, which has now been successfully recovered and confirmed as being that of Sala.

Dorset Police confirmed: "The body brought to Portland Port today has been formally identified by HM Coroner for Dorset as that of professional footballer Emiliano Sala.

"The families of Mr Sala and pilot David Ibbotson have been updated. Our thoughts remain with them all."

(Image: Maxppp/PA Images)

(Image: Getty)

Investigators used remotely operated vehicles to help pull the body out of the water "in as dignified a way as possible" despite "challenging conditions" in the recovery, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

The whereabouts of Mr Ibbotson remain unclear at this time.

The Piper Malibu plane, registration N264DB, was found 67 metres underwater 21 miles off the coast of Guernsey and weather conditions meant that investigations were delayed.

Sala, 28, had just completed a club-record £15million transfer to Cardiff and had not made an appearance for the club.

(Image: AAIB / SWNS)

(Image: AAIB / SWNS)

He had travelled back to Nantes, his former club, to say his goodbyes to his former teammates.

Disaster struck on the journey back to Wales.

It has been confirmed that the plane requested to descend before it lost contact with the air control staff.

The remains of the aircraft were discovered by David Mearns, known as the "Shipwreck Hunter", who discovered the aircraft within two hours of starting his search on a target area.

He told the Press Association the discovery had been so quick because the team had been looking for a static object rather than in a dynamic environment searching for survivors.

(Image: Getty Images)

"No-one should walk away with the impression that the Coastguard and also the Channel Islands air search did anything other than a professional job," he said.

The AAIB said it expected to publish an interim report within the month.

But those looking into the plane's crash face a battle to determine the whole story.

Even if the investigators are able to retrieve the wreckage and examine it up-close, the light aircraft is unlikely to have been fitted with a flight recorder, according to the UK's aviation regulator, which would have been a vital source of information.

(Image: Getty Images)

Known as black boxes, they record flight data and cockpit audio, and are mandatory in airline planes and private jets - but not for the Piper Malibu plane.

Sala had turned down a mega-money transfer to the Chinese Super League in favour of putting pen to paper on a three-and-a-half year contract in Cardiff.

Tributes were paid in Cardiff and in Nantes for the striker, as the search for him continued.

However, things have threatened to get nasty after Nantes threatened legal action to ensure the £15million transfer fee was paid. </s> The body recovered from a plane that crashed in the Channel has been formally identified as the professional footballer Emiliano Sala, police have said.

The aircraft, which was also carrying the pilot David Ibbotson, crashed in the Channel on 21 January, en route to Cardiff. Dorset police said the families of both men had been notified. </s> An investigation into the plane crash which killed footballer Emiliano Sala will focus on the validity of the pilot’s licence.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) named “regulatory requirements” as one of four areas in which further work will be carried out.

Its interim report noted that the type of licence held by the pilot meant he could only fly passengers in the European Union on a cost sharing basis, rather than for commercial flights.

Pilots with his licence “must have a bona fide purpose for making the flight”, according to the AAIB.

Argentinian footballer Sala had just signed for Cardiff City from French club Nantes for £15 million when the plane crashed into the Channel on January 21.

He was the only passenger on board the Piper Malibu aircraft flying from Nantes to the Welsh capital.

His body was recovered on February 6 but pilot David Ibbotson, 59, of Crowle, Lincolnshire, has not been located.

Mr Ibbotson’s family hope a fresh search for his body will begin this week after setting up an online fundraising campaign which has reached £250,000.

The aircraft remains underwater off the coast of Guernsey after an attempt to recover it was hampered by bad weather. </s> Wreckage from the plane which disappeared carrying footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson on board has been found in the English Channel.

David Mearns, a marine scientist directing the private search, said the plane carrying the Cardiff City player was found earlier this morning.

In a tweet he said: "Wreckage of the plane carrying Emiliano Sala and piloted by David Ibbotson was located early this morning by the FPV MORVEN. As agreed with the AAIB they moved the GEO OCEAN III over the position we provided them to visually identify the plane by ROV."

He confirmed that the families of both the men have been notified by police in another tweet.

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He added: "The AAIB will be making a statement tomorrow. Tonight our sole thoughts are with the families and friends of Emiliano and David. EmilianoSalas NoDejenDeBuscarAEmilianoSala ."

The 28-year-old Argentine was travelling alone with the pilot from former club Nantes to Cardiff when his plane went missing last Monday.

Sala had signed a three-and-a-half year deal with Cardiff and had visited his former club to say goodbye to his team mates.
The family of pilot David Ibbotson launch a GoFundMe campaign to locate and recover his body, raising thousands of pounds within hours. Footballer Emiliano Sala's body was recently found in the wreckage and recovered two weeks after the plane first went missing.