‘Shipwreck hunter’ who found Emiliano Sala’s plane says it’s ‘imperative’ to retrieve it from the English Channel for his ‘desperate’ family as divers reveal there is a body on board
This is the first picture of the wreckage of Emiliano Salas plane on the
The ‘shipwreck hunter’ who found Emiliano Sala’s plane has said it is ‘imperative’ to retrieve the wreckage from the English Channel for his ‘desperate’ family as divers revealed there is a body on board.
Marine scientist David Mearns volunteered to help the Sala family for free after initial search and rescue efforts by a number of agencies failed. His team located the plane 220ft down on the seabed.
Haunting image of the wreckage was released by the Air Accident Investigation Branch today, as the agency revealed it contains the body of either Sala or his pilot David Ibbotson.
Mr Mearns said: ‘(The AAIB) will be able to rule things out or rule things in, that’s the normal investigative process for any crash, so I think it’s imperative that the plane is recovered, and now even more so now we know someone is down there.’
An AAIB spokesman said: ‘Tragically, in video footage from the ROV, one
Channel
The new image of the plane shows the rear left side of the fuselage, including part of the aircraft registration, N264DB.
A decision has yet to be taken on whether to raise the wreckage to the surface.
Emiliano Sala’s father Horacio (pictured last week) has told how he was ‘desperate’ and in a ‘bad dream’ after the plane’s wreckage was found on the sea bed
The statement added: ‘The AAIB is now considering the next steps, in consultation with the families of the pilot and passenger, and the police.’
The families of the £15million striker and his pilot David Ibbotson are waiting to hear whose body is in the fuselage of the Piper Malibu that vanished in a storm two weeks ago.
Sala’s bereft father Horacio, who has not joined his ex-wife, son and daughter in Britain, told reporters in the Argentinian town of Progreso: ‘I cannot believe it …. this is a dream … a bad dream … I’m desperate’.
The coastguard abandoned their search last week after ruling out any survivors of the air crash with the footballer’s family brought in a celebrated shipwreck hunter to lead the search.
The sea search vessel FPV Morven picked up the wreckage using sonar yesterday morning and an unmanned Air Accident Investigation Branch submarine sent to the sea bed used an HD camera to identify the blue and white aircraft.
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.
He said he had stayed in regular contact with the Sala family by text message because of the language barrier.
‘We are informing them every step of the way what’s going on and they are making it clear to us what their priorities are at all times,’ he said.
‘There’s a much greater chance they will get answers if (the plane is) recovered.’
Mr Mearns continued: ‘I haven’t spoken to them verbally, but they were devastated the last time we were here and frankly the news is worse today.
‘Now their worst fears are confirmed, so I would imagine they would be just as devastated – it’s going to take a long time for them to come to terms with the loss.’
