Channel rescuers suspend search for missing footballer Sala

What you need to know:

  • The search included aircraft and sea vessels from the Channel Islands, the UK and France, and will resume on Wednesday, the police said.
  • Sala, 28, was flying to Cardiff aboard a small plane that disappeared from radars around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Guernsey on Monday night.

LONDON

Police on the British island of Guernsey on Tuesday suspended a search for a missing plane carrying new Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala, warning that survival chances were "slim" if the aircraft landed on water.

Guernsey police said a 15-hour search covering a 1,155-square-mile (3,000-square-kilometre) area in the Channel spotted "a number of floating objects in the water".

"We have been unable to confirm whether any of these are from the missing aircraft," the police said in a statement.

"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."

The search included aircraft and sea vessels from the Channel Islands, the UK and France, and will resume on Wednesday, the police said.

Sala, 28, was flying to Cardiff aboard a small plane that disappeared from radars around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Guernsey on Monday night.

The Argentine striker was signed by the Welsh side on Saturday from France's Nantes for a reported fee of 17 million euros ($19.3 million).

He scored 13 goals in all competitions this season and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Cardiff, subject to receiving international clearance.