Anxiety As Family Await Identity Of Corpse Found In Footballer, Sala's Crashed Plane

Anxiety fills the air as the families of Emiliano Sala and Pilot David Ibbotson are waiting to hear whose body in the fuselage of crashed piper Malibu discovered yesterday by family powered independent search party

 

The first picture of the doomed playing lying 220ft down on the bed of the English Channel was released Monday morning as it was revealed a victim has been found in the wreckage.

 

The haunting image of the wreckage was released by the Air Accident Investigation Branch whose team also revealed that the body of either Sala or his pilot David Ibbotson is on board.

 

The operation to recover the doomed plane was cancelled Monday and could be hampered by days of poor weather.

 

It was found by a sea search vessel paid for by Sala’s family yesterday and a small submarine [ROV] with an HD camera confirmed it was the Piper Malibu that disappeared over the Channel Islands two weeks ago.

 

The body is also lying either in a seat or under the debris but he has not yet been identified.

 

An AAIB spokesman said: ‘Tragically, in video footage from the ROV, one occupant is visible amidst the wreckage. The AAIB is now considering the next steps, in consultation with the families of the pilot and passenger, and the police’.

 

The new image shows the rear left side of the fuselage, including part of the aircraft registration, N264DB.

 

A decision has yet to be taken on whether to raise the wreckage to the surface.

 

The statement added: “The AAIB is now considering the next steps, in consultation with the families of the pilot and passenger, and the police.”

 

Sala’s bereft father Horacio, who has not joined his ex-wife, son and daughter in Britain, told reporters in the Argentinian town of Progreso: ‘I cannot believe it …. this is a dream … a bad dream … I’m desperate’.