The wreckage of the aircraft carrying soccer player EMILIANO SALA, (28years) and his pilot David Ibbotson, (59 years) has been found in the English Channel on Sunday morning after almost two weeks of thorough search.
It is widely known that a private underwater search team found the aircraft and has informed the families of both Sala and David Ibbotson his pilot.
David Mearns, the leader of the privately-funded search, has confirmed that the plane was located off the coast of Guernsey on Sunday at around nine am on Sunday, two weeks after disappearing from the radar on its way to Cardiff from Nantes.
AAIB officials at the site to inspect the wreckage and have now issued a statement.
They said: “Having identified a priority search area last week, the AAIB agreed on a search strategy with Blue Water Recoveries Ltd to maximize the chance of finding the aircraft wreckage.
“The AAIB commissioned specialist vessel Blue Water Recoveries and Geo Ocean III for the search. The search area was divided for the vessels, and each vessel began its search in the early hours of Sunday, 3rd of February.
“Early in the search, an object of interest was identified on the seafloor using the side-scan sonar equipment. The area was immediately cleared for the Geo Ocean III to use its underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to survey the area of the seafloor on which the object was found.
Based on analysis of the ROV video footage, the AAIB investigators on board of the vessel concluded that the object found was from the wreckage of the missing Piper Malibu airplane, with registration number N264DB.
“Further search of the area was carried out by the ROV overnight, but additional pieces of the aircraft wreckages were not found.”
“Tragically, in video footage from the ROV, shows one occupant is still visible amidst the wreckage, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said.
At first it was not cleared if the body was that of Emiliano Sala or his pilot, David Ibbotson but it has later been reviled by the Dorset police that the body recovered from the airplane’s wreckage was that of Emiliano Sala. Both men are presumed dead by authorities
The information was firstly related to the family of both Sala and Ibbotson, and The AAIB is considering the next steps, in consultation with the families of the pilot, the passenger, and the police,” the branch said in a statement.