Rescuers "scouring the sea in the search for a plane" carrying recent Premier League side Cardiff City signing Emiliano Sala on Tuesday evening "found what they believe to be aircraft parts in the water," according to Davies & Morgan of the London TELEGRAPH. France’s civil aviation authority confirmed Sala was on board the plane "when it went missing having passed over Guernsey on its way to the Welsh capital from Nantes." Rescue teams "scrambled to waters north of Alderney after the light aircraft with two on board vanished on Monday evening." On Tuesday evening, the chief officer of Channel Island Air Search said that the organization had found what it believes to be "seating and orange material in the sea." It "remains unclear how the plane disappeared from the radar above the English Channel on Monday night." Channel Islands Air Search Chief Officer John Fitzgerald said, "We just don't know how it disappeared." Cardiff City CEO Ken Choo said on Tuesday afternoon that the club was in an "emotional crisis," adding, "We expected Emiliano to arrive last night into Cardiff and today was due to be his first day with the team. We continue to pray for positive news" (TELEGRAPH, 1/22).
OFF RADAR: The BBC reported Sala's father, Horacio, told Argentine channel C5N that he "heard the news from a friend." He said, "I didn't know anything. I couldn't believe it. I'm desperate. I hope everything goes well." The plane lost contact while at 2,300 feet and "disappeared off radar near the Casquets lighthouse, infamous among mariners as the site of many shipwrecks," eight miles northwest of Alderney (BBC, 1/22). In London, Matthews & Shergold reported the president of Sala's former club, Nantes' Waldemar Kita, said, "He was a polite, kind and adorable boy, loved by everyone. He was very respectful, very courteous. I am thinking about his family and all his friends." Nantes coach Vahid Halilhodzic said as he left the club's training ground, "What do you want me to say to you? I am appalled. The period was already very delicate, but here it is very difficult. We are waiting but we do not have many illusions. We expect the worst" (DAILY MAIL, 1/22).
