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Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 23:17
Search for missing Cardiff City's Sala resumes in English Channel
By Reuters
Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 23:17 By Reuters

FC Nantes football club supporters gather in Nantes after it was announced that the plane Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala was flying in vanished during a flight from Nantes in western France to Cardiff in Wales, in Jan 22, 2019. (LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

LONDON - The search for Cardiff City's new soccer star, Emiliano Sala, resumed on Wednesday, 36 hours after the light aircraft he was flying on disappeared in the English Channel.

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Sala was flying from the French city of Nantes to Cardiff for his club debut when the plane lost radar contact off the English Channel island of Guernsey late on Monday

Sala was flying from the French city of Nantes to Cardiff for his club debut when the plane lost radar contact off the English Channel island of Guernsey late on Monday.

"We have resumed searching," Guernsey police said. "Two planes are taking off and will search a targeted area we believe has the highest likelihood of finding anything, based on review of the tides and weather since it went missing."

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Police searching the English Channel for Sala are prioritizing their efforts on the possibility that the plane landed on water and he made it onto a life raft that was on board, British police said. 

Police said that three other possibilities were that Sala and the pilot had landed elsewhere but not made contact, they had been picked up by a passing ship, or the aircraft broke up on contact with water. 

This AFP graphic shows a map and details of the disappearance of the aircraft carrying footballer Emiliano Sala.

Rescue aircraft and boats had searched more than 2,590 square km of sea for the single-engine Piper Malibu by midday on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old Argentine-born forward joined struggling Cardiff City from FC Nantes last week for a club record fee of about 17 million euros (US$19 million), after scoring 12 goals for the French club this season. 

This picture released by Cardiff City FC via Noticias Argentinas shows Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala posing with Cardiff's jersey after signing for the club, in Cardiff, Jan 20, 2019. (HO / NOTICIAS ARGENTINAS / AFP)

In a voice message left by Sala, published by Argentine newspaper Clarin, he said that it seemed as though the plane was "about to crash". 

The plane had been cruising at 1,525 m when the pilot requested to descend to a lower altitude on passing Guernsey. It lost radar contact at 700 m, the police said. 

Police said that they had seen a number of floating objects in the water on Tuesday, but had been unable to determine whether they were from the missing aircraft. 

The police said they had found no signs of those on board, and that if the aircraft landed on water, the chances of survival were slim.

FC Nantes football club supporters gather in Nantes after it was announced that the plane Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala was flying in vanished during a flight from Nantes in western France to Cardiff in Wales, in Jan 22, 2019. (LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

This photo shows flowers left on the statue of former Cardiff City soccer player Frederick Charles Keenor outside Cardiff City Football Club in Cardiff, Wales, Jan 22, 2019 after a plane with new signing Emiliano Sala on board went missing over the English Channel. (BEN BIRCHALL / PA VIA AP)

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