UNDERWATER SEARCH FOR SALA BEGINS

Tributes to missing footballer at Bluebirds match ahead of new efforts to trace plane he was in

THE search for the missing plane carrying Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson was set to take a significant step forward today as underwater searches of the seabed begin.

Two separate below-the-surface operations were due to be launched to try to trace the Piper PA-46Malibu plane almost two weeks after the light aircraft went missing near the Channel Islands on January 21.

The plane vanished from radar shortly after making a request to descend from 5,000ft to 2,300ft.

The discovery of parts thought to have come from the missing plane, which washed up on a beach in France this week, has meant authorities are to put an underwater search into action today. This search is being operated by the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).

Alongside this, a second and private underwater search – funded by an online fundraising campaign – will also launch this weekend. This was planned before it was confirmed seat cushions likely to be from the plane had washed up in France. Both operations say they will work with each other.

The official search operation, based in Guernsey, spent days searching for the aircraft and those on board after the alarm was raised.

After the rescue effort entered its third full day the search was stood down on January 24 when no trace of the plane or those on board was found.

The end of the official search prompted an online fundraising campaign to pay for a private search to be carried out. More than £325,000 has since been pledged, allowing for marine scientist and wreck hunter David Mearns, right, to be brought in to coordinate a private search.

On Monday, parts of seat cush ions washed up on a beach near Surtainville on the Cotentin Peninsula, on the north-west coast of France.

After a preliminary examina- tion the AAIB said “it is likely that the cushions are from the missing aircraft”. Confirmation of this was made public on Wednesday.

The AAIB say they have been considering the feasibility of conducting an underwater search of the seabed since they were first notified of the missing plane.

A priority search area of around four square nautical miles will be the focus of a search mission expected to last three days.

Through the Ministry of Defence’s Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO) Project Team, a specialist survey vessel has been commissioned to carry out the underwater survey.

An AAIB spokesman said: “We will have two AAIB inspectors onboard and a number of AAIB personnel coordinating activities from our HQ. Our onboard inspectors will be accompanied by survey specialists and of course the ship’s crew.”

Meanwhile, the privately funded search for the missing plane actually began last Saturday. It came about after hundreds of thousands of pounds were pledged in a crowdfunding campaign to enable search efforts to continue.

It is being led by marine scientist and wreck hunter Mr Mearns, on behalf of the Sala family.

Last Saturday two vessels were deployed out of Guernsey to visually scan “the area of the last radar contact for any clues to the plane’s whereabouts”. The next stage of this search is an underwater survey.

Detailing plans of the private below-the-surface search, Mr Mearns said: “Worst case, we are looking approximately at a search area of 25 square nautical miles.

“The water depth in the primary area is about 65m.” Yesterday, Mr Mearns said: “Tomorrow the weather will be good. We will be able to operate tomor

row.”