Police confirm Emiliano Sala’s body was inside plane wreckage

The body found in the plane wreckage in the English Channel is that of Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala, police have confirmed. 

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, 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.

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.’

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 9:15 on Thursday morning.

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. 

More to follow.