160,000 Pounds Raised As Family Launches Private Search For Missing Footballer, Sala

 

More than £160,000 has been raised towards a private search for missing Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala, BBC reports.

The search for the Argentine striker, 28, and pilot David Ibbotson, 59, was called off on Thursday.

The plane disappeared from radar as the pair flew over the English Channel on their way to Cardiff on Monday night.

A former Guernsey harbour master said the search was “like looking for a needle in a haystack, when you don’t even know where the haystack is”.

Argentina’s president Mauricio Macri has joined calls by Sala’s family for the search to resume.

Footballers including Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan have contributed to donations for the private search on a GoFundMe page.

Other contributors include Nantes manager Vahid Halilhodzic, Leicester City winger Demarai Gray, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot and Bayern Munich’s Corentin Tolisso.

Organisers of the page, Paris-based football agency Sport Cover, hope to raise a total of £260,000 or €300,000.