The search for a plane carrying a Premier League footballer which vanished over the English Channel is still focused on the theory that both occupants survived a crash and made use of an onboard life raft, police said on Wednesday.
Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala was on board the small Piper Malibu aircraft, which lost contact over the Channel Islands on Monday night.
The 28-year-old Argentine striker had been flying to Cardiff after signing for the Welsh side from FC Nantes in a reported £15m deal last week.
Sala was onboard the plane alongside the pilot, who has yet to be officially named. Sources have told media the pilot is a British citizen.
Rescue efforts from the Channel Islands, France and the UK throughout Tuesday saw five aircraft and two lifeboats cover 1,000 square miles.
The search was suspended overnight but resumed on Wednesday morning.
Guernsey Police said rescue workers searching for the missing plane were now considering four possibilities as to the fate of the plane and its occupants.
The force said these were:
“1. They have landed elsewhere but not made contact.
“2. They landed on water, have been picked up by a passing ship but not made contact.
“3. They landed on water and made it into the life raft we know was on board.
“4. The aircraft broke up on contact with the water, leaving them in the sea.”
Police said the search area was prioritised on the life raft option.
The force added at 11.30am GMT that rescue workers have so far found “nothing” as the search continued.
“There are currently three planes and one helicopter in the air,” it said in a tweet.
“We are also reviewing satellite imagery and mobile phone data to see if they can be of any assistance in the search.
“So far today nothing spotted can be attributed to the missing plane.”
The aircraft left Nantes in north west France just after 7pm on Monday, but lost contact at 2,300ft and vanished from radar off Alderney.
Reports said that airport workers at Nantes observed the plane experiencing difficulty getting airborne, with at least three attempts made before it successfully took off.
