Cardiff City's new signing Emiliano Sala expressed concern about his plane shortly before the light aircraft disappeared over the Channel, according to an audio message sent to friends and relatives.
The Argentine striker, signed on Saturday from French club Nantes for a reported fee of £15 million (Dh71.35m), a club record, was flying to Cardiff when the plane disappeared from radar about 20km north of the island of Guernsey on Monday night.
"I'm on a plane that looks like it's going to fall apart, and I'm leaving for Cardiff," Sala said in a WhatsApp audio message broadcast by Argentine media.
"If in an hour and a half you have no news from me, I don't know if they will send people to look for me, because they will not find me, you know. Dad, I'm so scared."
Sala is missing and presumed dead after the single-engine Piper PA-46 Malibu aircraft disappeared.
A 15-hour search on Tuesday covering a 3,000-square-kilometre area in the Channel spotted "a number of floating objects in the water", Guernsey police said.
"We have found no signs of those on board. If they did land on the water, the chances of survival are at this stage, unfortunately, slim," police said.
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Nantes supporters gather in Nantes after it was announced that the plane Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala was flying on vanished. AFP -
People hold a vigil for missing former Nantes player Emiliano Sala. EPA -
Nantes supporters gather in Nantes. AFP -
Nantes supporters gather and light candles over an Argentinian flag. AFP -
Nantes fans hold up club scarves during a gathering. AFP -
Nantes supporters lay flowers. AFP -
The 28-year-old Argentine striker is one of two people still missing after contact was lost with the light aircraft. AFP -
Nantes supporters light flares during the gathering. AFP -
Nantes supporters lay flowers. AFP -
Sala was on his way to the Welsh capital to train with his new teammates for the first time after completing a move to Cardiff City. AFP -
A Nantes supporter adds to the collection of flowers. AFP -
Club Atletico Social San Martin President Daniel Rivero holds a Nantes team jersey that was given to the club by Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala. AP Photo -
A view of the "Club Atletico y Social San Martin" where Emiliano Sala played soccer when he was young, in Progreso, Santa Fe province, Argentina. AFP -
A view of the "Club Atletico y Social San Martin" where Emiliano Sala played soccer when he was young, in Progreso, Santa Fe province, Argentina. AFP -
Horacio Sala, father of Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala, stands outside his home in Progreso, Argentina. AP Photo -
Horacio Sala, father of Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala, and his partner Carina Mercedes Taffarel embrace outside their home in Progreso, Argentina. AP Photo
The search was set to resume at sunrise Wednesday.
French civil aviation authorities confirmed Sala, 28, "was on board the plane". It is thought there was one other passenger on the aircraft.
Police on Guernsey, which sits just off the north coast of France, said the pilot had requested to reduce his altitude shortly before air traffic control in neighbouring Jersey lost contact with the plane.
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One of the rescuers searching for the missing plane earlier admitted they were "fearing the worst", thoughts echoed by Sala's father Horacio.
The sea temperature is so cold at the moment," John Fitzgerald, chief officer of Channel Islands Air Search, said.
A tearful Horacio Sala told the press in Progreso, where the player's family lives, that as "the hours go by and I don't know anything, it makes me fear the worst".
"I don't know anything. Nobody spoke to me, not a call from the embassy, the club, nobody," he said. "All I want is for you to find him."
The player's mother, Mercedes, said in an interview with Argentine television channel C5N that the plane belonged to Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman.
Sala, who had been at Nantes since 2015 and scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, had signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with relegation-threatened Cardiff subject to receiving international clearance.
"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," the Premier League club's executive director Ken Choo said in a statement.
"We continue to pray for positive news."
Argentine football legend Diego Maradona expressed sadness but said he was hoping the plane had simply gone astray.
"I hope it went to the wrong airport and we find him alive, that's all," he said in an audio message on the Instagram account of journalist Martin Arevalo.
"It's a terrible misfortune when such things happen."
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Bordeaux's Diego Contento (L) and Emiliano Sala (R) celebrate at the end of the French L1 football match Bordeauxvs Moncao on August 17, 2014 at the Chaban Delmas Stadium in Bordeaux. AFP -
Caen's Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala (L) vies for the ball with Saint-Etienne's French defender Paul Baysse during the French L1 football match between Caen and Saint-Etienne on February 1, 2015. AFP -
Emiliano Sala, who signed for Cardiff City on Saturday, is reported to have been travelling in a plane that disappeared from radar over the English channel on Monday. Getty -
Emiliano Sala in action for FC Nantes against OGC Nice in 2017. Reuters -
Monpellier's French defender Damien Le Tallec (R) vies with Nantes' Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala during the French L1 match between Nantes and Montpellier at the La Beaujoire stadium in Nantes on January 8, 2019. AFP -
Nantes' Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala. AFP -
Nantes' Emiliano Sala gestures during a match in 2017. Reuters -
Monaco's Kamil Glik in action with Nantes' Emiliano Sala in November 2017. Reuters
Cardiff called off a training session planned for Tuesday, and stunned supporters gathered outside the club's ground to lay flowers and scarves.
With his former teammates in shock, Nantes had their French Cup tie against third-tier side Entente Sannois Saint-Gratien postponed from Wednesday until Sunday.
Meanwhile, hundreds of fans of his former team gathered for a vigil in the western French city on Tuesday evening, placing flowers, scarves and flags on the water fountain and chanting the striker's name at Place Royale.
"I still have hope, he is a fighter," said Nantes president Waldemar Kita in a tweet published by the Ligue 1 club.
When he put pen to paper at Cardiff on Saturday, Sala, who also has Italian nationality, said in a statement: "I'm very happy to be here. It gives me great pleasure and I can't wait to start training, meet my new teammates and get down to work.
"For me it feels special [to be the club's record signing]. I have come here wanting to work and to help my teammates and the club."
Sala's last post on Instagram showed him surrounded by players from Nantes. "La ultima ciao [the last goodbye]," he wrote.
Sala began his footballing career at French club Bordeaux, which he joined in 2010, and had loan spells at other French clubs including Orleans, Niort and Caen.
He joined Nantes in 2015 for €1m (Dh4.17m) and had scored 42 Ligue 1 goals in three and a half seasons at the Stade de la Beaujoire.
