Gulf sheikh missing after glider crash

Rescuers were searching a Moroccan hillside lake yesterday for the boss of the world's largest sovereign fund, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, two days after his plane crashed into it.

The aircraft of Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, younger brother of the ruler of Abu Dhabi (who is also President of the United Arab Emirates), crashed into a reservoir six miles south of the Moroccan capital, Rabat, on Friday. "The search is still going on, that is all that I can tell you," Morocco's Communications minister, Khalid Naciri, said yesterday.

Sheikh Ahmed is in his early forties and last year was ranked number 27 in the Forbes magazine list of the world's most powerful people.

The sovereign wealth fund that he directs on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government is believed to have assets of between $500bn (£334bn) and $700bn, in investments ranging from Citigroup bonds, to a stake in Britain's Gatwick airport, to residential property in major cities.

Few details have emerged about the accident except that the pilot of the aircraft was rescued after it crashed near the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah dam. Residents of the area said that Sheikh al-Nahyan was a regular visitor, and that the Abu Dhabi royal family has a palace overlooking the reservoir. The reservoir, swollen by recent heavy rainfall, is estimated to be about 60m deep.

Dozens of police yesterday blocked roads leading to the lake, set in green, rolling hills. Several black Mercedes-Benz cars with diplomatic licence plates swept through a police blockade, down the road to the royal family's palace. Moroccan government vehicles followed.

UAE officials have made no comment since a statement on Friday reporting the crash.

In the Gulf region, health concerns about royal family members are treated with great deference and officials rarely comment before any announcements from the ruling families.