Body pulled from wreckage of plane that crashed carrying Emiliano Sala is confirmed to be that of the Argentinean footballer – as missing pilot’s family tell of their ongoing agony
- Emiliano Sala’s body has been pulled from the wreckage of the Piper Malibu
- The plane was found on a sea bed on Sunday, hours after a private search began
- Pilot David Ibbotson’s body has not been recovered, neither has the plane
The body recovered from the wreckage of a plane at the bottom of the English Channel has been confirmed as Emiliano Sala.
Families of the Argentinean striker and pilot David Ibbotson have been nervously awaiting news over whose body was pulled from the crashed Piper Malibu which went missing on January 21.
Dorset Police confirmed it was that of the 28-year-old footballer who was flying to start his new life after his £15million signing to Cardiff FC when the plane went down.
An official search was called off after four days after it was deemed unlikely the men could have survived.
Earlier today friends and relatives of the pilot’s wife Nora said she was ‘beside herself’ waiting to hear whether or not he had been found.
Weather conditions are so bad off Guernsey it is not clear if the wreckage can be brought to the surface.
Missing footballer Emiliano Sala was confirmed dead after his body was brought up from the bottom of the English Channel
The body was recovered from the wreckage of the plane carrying Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala on Wednesday
Pilot David Ibbotson and his wife, Nora Ibbotson. The frequent flyer went missing with his plane on January 21
Mr Ibbotson’s wife Nora has been desperately waiting for news hiding behind closed doors at her home in Crowle, near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.
A local businesswoman in the tiny close knit village – where a makeshift shrine to the missing part time pilot, gas fitter and father-of-three – has been set up in his memory at the market square – said tonight: ‘We’ve heard that Nora hasn’t yet been told which body had been found. She is distraught with grief not knowing, the waiting is agony for her and her family and our hearts go out to them.’
A relative of the heartbroken family said: ‘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.’
Sixty-year-old Mr Ibbotson’s wife Nora and former wife Georgina Gymer, who now lives in New Zealand, are understood to have been in contact to unite in grief across the globe.
The body was brought off ship, Geo Ocean III, on a stretcher and transferred to a private ambulance before being taken to Dorset Police and the local coroner.
Sala’s girlfriend Berenice Schkair yesterday posted a picture on Instagram of a rose stuck into the sand next to the sea.
Mr Ibbotson’s daughter, sister and nephew were among loved ones paying respects to the 60-year-old gas engineer, part time pilot and devoted family man, earlier this week.
His younger sister Helen Kapatysulias wrote: ‘To David, my gentle brother. I have so many memories of you, mine is of you when you were coming home from school, you used to pick me up and carry me home. I will lock these memories in my heart forever.
‘All I would like is to see your face, smiling, cheekily, again. I know you’re safe wherever you are. I pray that one day I will see you again, my gentle Big Brother.
Messages were left around the base of a tree in Crowle for the pilot after a body was found at the bottom of the Channel
‘I love you forever and always and will never forget you.’
His daughter penned In loving memory of a dear Dad: ‘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. I have (word illegible) memories and will pass these on to anybody I meet. All my love Vicki.’
The official search was called off after four days after the coastguard deemed survival not likely.
Marine scientist Mr Mearns volunteered to help the Sala family for free after initial search and rescue efforts by a number of agencies failed.
Him and his team, working in conjunction with the AAIB, found the remains of the plane within two hours of starting their search.
The Geo Ocean III specialist search vessel off the coast of Alderney in the English Channel. The crew found the plane hours after the search began
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