Search for footballer's missing plane abandoned for the night

Police on the island of Guernsey say "a number of floating objects" have been found in the English Channel after the search for the missing light aircraft containing Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala was called off for the night.

The new15 million pound ($19.3 million) Cardiff City striker, who only signed for the English Premier League team on Saturday, was travelling from his former team in France, Nantes, to South Wales on Monday night in a Piper Malibu airplane, when it vanished from radar close to the Channel Islands, just off the coast of Northern France.

The aircraft, with two people on board, had left Nantes in the west of France at 7.15 pm, and was flying at a height of 1,524 meters when it contacted air traffic control on the island of Jersey, requesting permission to descend.

Contact was lost with the aircraft at a height of 700 meters.It vanished from radar 12.9 kilometers off the coast of the island of Alderney, near the Casquets lighthouse.

Despite being so close to France, the Channel Islands are an independent British territory and a popular tourist destination as well as an important banking industry hub. The biggest islands are Jersey and Guernsey.

A Channel Islands Air Search spokeswoman said there had been reports of red flares seen during a lifeboat and helicopter search, but "nothing of significance" was produced.

Weather forecasting organization the Met Office said conditions when the plane went missing on Monday were not "too intense" but had subsequently deteriorated and the search was called off in the early hours of Tuesday.

The harbor master of Guernsey, Captain David Barker, said they had not received any distress call and conditions were much better when the search resumed on Tuesday morning.

"It's far easier to see something on the surface in daylight," he said. "We are looking for any traces of an aircraft, a life raft, persons in the water, life jackets."

But at around 5pm on Tuesday, the search was abandoned for the night, with no definite news, and police admitting that the survival chances of anyone who had been on board the flight were now 'slim'.

Cardiff, who despite being in Wales play in the English Premier League, are currently third from bottom of the competition, and have scored just 19 goals in 23 games this season, the second-lowest total in the Premier League.

Sala, 28, had scored 13 league and cup goals for Nantes this season, so would have made a big difference to Cardiff, known as the Bluebirds.

"We were very shocked upon hearing the news that the plane had gone missing. We expected Emiliano to arrive last night into Cardiff and today was due to be his first day with the team," said a statement on the club website.

"We made the decision first thing this morning to call off training with the thoughts of the squad, management staff and the entire club with Emiliano and the pilot.

"All of us at Cardiff City FC would like to thank our fans, and the entire footballing family, for their support at this difficult time. We continue to pray for positive news."

Nantes have postponed a match they were scheduled to play on Wednesday night.