Emiliano Sala: Private donors fund new search for Cardiff City striker after plane disappears over Channel

Boats reported to have headed back out to sea after other footballers back drive for fresh search

A search for missing Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala is said to have resumed after it was funded by private donations.

A money-raising effort for the resumption of the search quickly passed £100,000 within hours of being launched on Friday, enabling boats to head back out to the Channel.

Within 48 hours, donations had reached £278,630.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is investigating after the light aircraft taking Sala from Nantes to Wales disappeared from radar on Monday night.

The official search operation for the Piper Malibu carrying both the Argentine striker and pilot David Ibbotson was called off on Thursday.

Pleas for the search to resume came from the 28-year-old player’s family, Argentinian football stars Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and Sergio Aguero, and the country’s president, Mauricio Macri.

Mr Macri told his foreign minister to issue formal requests to Britain and France for search efforts to be resumed, according to a statement from his office.

The GoFundMe page posted an update yesterday saying: “The call for funds launched late Friday afternoon allowed the relatives of Emiliano Sala, via a specialized organization, resume research in the Channel early Saturday morning. Two boats conduct the operations.”

Footballers including Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan donated to the effort.

Cardiff City had also told the authorities they wanted the search to be restarted.

They had signed Sala for a club record £15m to bolster their attack, and he had been due to start training within days.

Guernsey’s harbour master Captain David Barker said the decision to stop actively searching had been a difficult one, but the chances of survival after such a long period were extremely remote.

The Sala family were planning a private search with hired divers, according to Argentinian media.

Mr Ibbotson, 59, of Crowle, Lincolnshire, held a private pilot’s licence and passed a medical exam as recently as November, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

The Civil Aviation Authority said the aircraft was registered in the US so fell under American regulations.

The flight left Nantes in France for Cardiff at 7.15pm on Monday, and after requesting to descend, lost contact with Jersey air-traffic control over the English Channel.

Rescue teams scanned 1,700 square miles and examined mobile phone data and satellite imagery but found no trace of the aircraft.

Sala’s sister, Romina, said: “We really are thankful for the support of all the players in the way they have said that we should not stop our efforts.

“We will find a way to restart the search. We will find Emiliano and the pilot.

“He is a fighter and we feel he is still out there.”

Additional reporting by agencies