Emiliano Sala: Search pilot says there’s ‘absolutely no chance’ missing pair will be found alive

A pilot involved in the search for missing Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala has said that there is “absolutely no chance” that anyone will be found alive, with efforts to locate any trace of the missing aeroplane called off.

Sala, 28, and 60-year-old pilot David Ibbotson have not been seen since their flight from Nantes to Cardiff disappeared on Monday night over the English Channel. Search and rescue teams have scoured the waters around Guernsey, Alderney and the surrounding area, but by Thursday afternoon investigators were yet to find anything that they could confirm was from the missing aircraft.

Efforts to locate the plane were finally ended at 3:!5pm on Thursday, which came after the search was scaled back to one plane to investigate the coastal areas of Burhou, the Casquets, Alderney, Jersey, Sark and the northern coast of France. By the afternoon, the island of Burhou had also been searched by foot, but nothing was found.

Speaking to ITV, pilot Mike Tidd of the Channel Islands Air Search, said that given the length of time that has passed since the plane went missing, there is no longer any hope of finding them alive.

"The area has been very well covered, there is absolutely no chance of finding anybody alive now, the only thing that we might be able to do would be to pinpoint where the aircraft went in, but I think the radar trace is going to be the best opportunity of doing that,” Mr Tidd said on Thursday.

In a statement issued at 3:15pm on Thursday, Guernsey harbour master Captain David Barker confirmed that the decision had been taken to end the active search across the Channel, although added that “the incident remains open” and all remaining boats and aircrafts in the area will be contacted to keep a lookout for anything that may be linked to the missing plane.

The aeroplane disappeared from radar at around 8:20pm on Monday night while flying at 2,300ft.

Mr Ibbotson had “requested descent” from 5,000ft as they flew over Guernsey, before the aircraft disappeared from the Jersey Air Traffic Control radar around 15km north of the Channel Island, just off the coast of Alderney.

Guernsey harbour master Captain David Barker admitted the chances of finding either man alive have "faded to almost zero".

He added: "As the Channel Islands air searcher said, the survival times for someone in the water is very low, we estimated that at around three hours, the time of survival in a life raft would be longer.

"No-one could be more concerned for these two men's safety than myself... You can be sure that my focus is still on trying to deal with any hope of survival."

A multi-nation investigation has been launched into what happened, with the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) looking into the loss of the aircraft while working closely with authorities in the US, France and Argentina.

An AAIB spokesman said: "We will be gathering all the available evidence to conduct a thorough investigation.

"However, if the aircraft is not found it is likely to limit the scope of the investigation."