SALA ‘EXPOSED TO POTENTIALLY LETHAL’ GAS
CARDIFF City footballer Emiliano Sala had potentially fatal levels of carbon monoxide in his body, a new report has found.
The finding also suggests pilot David Ibbotson – who flew the plane that crashed in the English Channel, killing both him and Sala – was likely to have been exposed to carbon monoxide.
The Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) has issued a special report into the plane crash, which happened in January of this year.
Sala was on his way to Cardiff when his Piper Malibu plane crashed into the English Channel.
The AAIB report says: “Toxicology tests on the blood of the passenger showed a carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb) saturation level of 58%.”
It adds: “A COHb level of 50% or above in an otherwise healthy individual is generally considered to be potentially fatal.”
The report states that levels of COHb over 50% can cause symptoms of “seizure, unconsciousness [or] heart attack”.
The report also says that the pilot, Mr Ibbotson, is also likely to have been affected, since “in this type of aircraft, the cockpit is not separated from the cabin”.
It says the effect would be “decreasing the carriage of oxygen and causing a direct effect on the performance of those parts of the body which rely on oxygen for proper function”.
The wreckage of the plane carrying Sala and Ibbotson was found at the bottom of the English Channel.
A picture released by the AAIB
showed the plane’s wreckage on the seabed.
The plane disappeared from radar on January 21 while flying over the Channel, around eight miles northwest of Alderney island. Rescuers said soon afterwards that the chances of survival for those on board were “slim”.
On January 30, cushions from the plane washed up on a beach near Surtainville on the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy.
The aircraft involved is a Piper PA-46 Malibu. Its registration number is N264DB.
The AAIB added in the report: “The AAIB is working with the aircraft and engine manufacturers and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the USA to identify possible pathways through which CO might enter the cabin of this type of aircraft.
“Work is also continuing to investigate pertinent operational, technical, organisational and human factors which might have contributed to the accident.
“Whilst this work is ongoing, this Special Bulletin is issued to raise awareness within the General Aviation community of the dangers of exposure to CO and the measures available to detect its presence in the cabin in order to mitigate this potentially fatal risk.
“A final report will be published in due course.”