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Nantes have retired their No 9 shirt in honour of former striker Emiliano Sala, whose body was found in a plane wreckage in the English Channel this week.
On Wednesday, it emerged an unidentified body – now known to be Sala – 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.
The plane was flying from Nantes, France, the home of Sala’s former team, to Cardiff on January 21, when it crashed into the sea with the new £15million signing and pilot David Ibbotson inside.
Nantes have retired their No 9 shirt in honour of their former striker Emiliano Sala
The body in the plane wreckage in the English Channel has been identified as Emiliano Sala
This is the first picture of the wreckage of Sala’s plane as a private search was undertaken
The body, found on Wednesday, was taken to Dorset and carried away on a stretcher to police
A statement from Dorset Police, released on Thursday night, read: ‘The body brought to Portland Port today, Thursday 7 February 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.
‘On Monday 21 January 2019 a plane carrying both men was flying from Nantes to Cardiff when it lost contact with Air Traffic Control, north of Guernsey.
‘Sadly a search and rescue operation was unsuccessful in locating the plane and the two occupants.
‘Subsequently AAIB and privately funded search teams were deployed to the relevant area. Using specialist equipment the teams succeeded in locating and identifying the plane and recovering Mr Sala’s body.’
Shortly after, Cardiff released a statement on their website which read: ‘We offer our most heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the family of Emiliano. He and David will forever remain in our thoughts.’
Sala’s sister Romina posted a picture stood on the pitch at Nantes, arms out either side as he looked up to the sky.
Her emotional tribute to her brother said: Your soul in my soul will shine forever, illuminating the time of my existence. I love you’.
Earlier on Thursday Romina revealed she had adopted her brother’s dog Nala.
Tributes quickly poured in for Sala on social media with Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil writing: ‘No words to describe how sad this is.
‘Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and also to the family of the pilot.’
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren posted a heartfelt message on Instagram saying: ‘I prayed every day because hope is the last. This is a great deal to accept.
‘I can not even imagine how difficult it is for you [Sala’s family]. We are all with you!’
Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero said: ‘Terribly sad. Rest in peace, Emiliano. My condolences to his friends and family.’
Families of the Argentine striker and pilot Ibbotson had been anxiously awaiting news over whose body was pulled from the crashed Piper Malibu plane as they seek answers over the tragedy last month.
The body was recovered from the aircraft wreckage using ROVs (remotely-operated vehicles) to pull it from the water in ‘as dignified a way as possible’.
The red and white vessel carrying the body docked at Portland, Dorset, at around 9:15am on Thursday morning.
Sala’s sister Romina posted this photo on her Instagram along with a heartfelt tribute to him
One body from the wreckage was recovered more than 20 miles off the coast of Guernsey
The boat was met at the harbour by two police cars, including a 4×4, with a silver coroner’s van arriving at the scene at around 9:45am.
Several of the ship’s crew could be seen leaving the 25ft vessel to introduce themselves to authorities before showing police and the coroner on board.
The Piper Malibu aircraft remained more than 200 feet below water and is 21 miles off the coast of Guernsey in the English Channel for more than two weeks as poor weather conditions stopped efforts to recover it.
While one body was successfully brought to the surface, poor conditions saw the decision made that crews would be unable to bring the wreckage itself to land.
A statement read: ‘Unfortunately, attempts to recover the aircraft wreckage were unsuccessful before poor weather conditions forced us to return the ROV to the ship.
‘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.’
The official search was called off on January 24 after Guernsey’s harbour master claimed the chances of survival for those on board was ‘extremely remote’.
An online petition was then started which raised more than £300,000 to put on a privately-funded search using a specialist survey vessel.
More than 3,500 people had responded to the appeal for funds and the target was broken with the help of a £26,000 donation from French World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe as well as contributions from Adrien Rabiot, Kalidou Koulibaly and the FIFPRO World Players Union.
The boat, operated by global marine cable installation firm A-2-Sea, is equipped with the latest technology.
It included a multi-beam echosounder and side-scan sonar, which can detect anomalies on the seabed, which helped quickly locate the aircraft.
The remains were tracked down by a team co-ordinated by ocean scientist David Mearns, who has located some of the most elusive wrecks in the world.
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.
Nantes as a club have been rocked since Sala’s plane crashed in the channel as the club’s players, staff and supporters have put on a number of tributes while they waited for answers from the various searches.
Banners and t-shirts were made, and there was even a stoppage in the ninth minute of their first game back in memory of Sala.
Nantes have been rocked by the news of Sala’s disappearance as they mourned the loss
Players paid tribute with shirts and a recent match was stopped in the ninth minute for Sala
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