Body visible in seabed footage of wreckage of Emiliano Sala’s plane
No decision yet on whether to raise the fuselage to the surface.
A body is visible in seabed video footage of the wreckage of the plane which crashed in the English Channel with Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala on board.
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the footage was filmed using an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) which was surveying the area after the plane was located on Sunday.
The AAIB said in a statement: “The ROV carried out a further search of the area overnight, but did not identify any additional pieces of wreckage.
“Tragically, in video footage from the ROV, one occupant is visible amidst the wreckage.”
A decision has yet to be taken on whether to raise the wreckage to the surface.
Emiliano Sala’s father has spoken of his anguish and disbelief after the wreckage was discovered.
Speaking at his home in Argentina, Horacio Sala said he was “desperate” after a privately-funded search operation found the aircraft in waters north of Guernsey on Sunday.
“I cannot believe it. This is a dream. A bad dream. I am desperate,” Mr Sala told local broadcaster Cronica TV.
Two vessels, including one commissioned by the AAIB, using sonar had been taking part in a fresh search covering an area of around four square nautical miles on Sunday when the wreckage was located.
Marine scientist David Mearns, the director of Blue Water Recoveries, led a team on the search vessel FPV Morven while the AAIB also sent a team aboard the Geo Ocean III, a specialist vessel commissioned for the task.
The privately-funded operation on behalf of the Sala family was made possible after a campaign raised more than £260,000 to pay for it.
The plane had requested to descend before it lost contact with Jersey air traffic control.
Two seat cushions, which are likely to have come from the plane, were found last week on the French coast.
Cardiff had signed the footballer for a club record £15 million and he was due to start training last month.
Ross Taylor of A-to-Sea Solutions – the survey ship used to locate the wreck – said the crew found the missing plane on its third “line” of the search area.
He told the Press Association: “In terms of the search you have set lines of the seabed and they are set up at a distance depending on the resolution you want to achieve.”
He compared the search process to mowing a lawn, and said the wreck was found using a combination of sonar equipment, including one device towed about 5m from the seabed.
He said the body was discovered using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) belonging to the AAIB vessel Geo Ocean III.
The body was picked up on the vehicle’s underwater cameras.
Mr Taylor was unable to comment on where in the plane the body was located.
When asked if it was possible to recover the body without raising the wreck, Mr Taylor said: “ROVs are sometimes able to grab on to items, but whether that would happen I don’t know.
“Divers can also get down to that depth but it’s a much bigger operation.
“In 25m to 30m of water it would be a lot easier but in 70m it would be a much bigger operation.”
A spokesman for the island of Guernsey said that Mr Sala’s family are not currently on the island.
