Emiliano Sala

Emiliano Raúl Sala Taffarel (born 31 October 1990; disappeared 21 January 2019) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward and is contracted to Premier League side Cardiff City.

After playing youth football in Argentina and following a short spell in Portugal's regional leagues, Sala began his professional career in France with Bordeaux, making his professional debut in February 2012. After struggling to break into the first team, he was loaned out to Championnat National side Orléans and Ligue 2 side Niort in consecutive seasons. He enjoyed prolific spells with both clubs, scoring 39 goals between them, before returning to Bordeaux. After initially being promised an increased role after his successful loans, Sala fell out of favour again, and instead, joined fellow Ligue 1 side Caen on loan.

In 2015, he signed for Nantes on a permanent basis. With Nantes, he made more than 100 appearances in Ligue 1, and achieved a successful goalscoring record, finishing as the club's top goalscorer for three consecutive seasons. His form prompted a move to Cardiff City in January 2019, for a club record fee of £15 million (€18 million).

Disappearance
After completing his medical at Cardiff, Sala returned to Nantes on the morning of 19 January on a plane arranged by football agent Mark McKay. His intention was to return to Cardiff on 21 January in order to attend his first training session with his new club the following morning. Sala had been invited to attend Cardiff's match against Newcastle United by manager Neil Warnock but chose to return to France in order to say goodbye to his Nantes teammates and collect personal belongings.

On 22 January, there was reported to be "genuine concern" that Sala was onboard a missing aircraft, a Piper Malibu, which was flying from Nantes to Cardiff. The aircraft, the same which he had travelled to Nantes in two days earlier, had gone missing off Alderney on 21 January. It was confirmed later the same day that he was a passenger on the missing aircraft, along with 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson. On 23 January 2019, Channel Islands Air Search said there was "no hope" of finding any survivors in the water.

An audio message allegedly sent by Sala to his friends via WhatsApp from the plane was released by Argentine media outlet Olé, in which he can be heard telling them: "Hello, my brothers, how are you? Boy, I’m tired. I was here in Nantes taking care of things, things, things, things, things, things, and it never stops, it never stops, it never stops. Anyway guys, I’m up in this plane that feels like it's falling to pieces, and I’m going to Cardiff. [It's] crazy, we start tomorrow. Training in the afternoon, guys, in my new team… Let's see what happens. So, how's it going with you guys, all good? If in an hour and a half you have no news from me, I don't know if they are going to send someone to look for me because they cannot find me, but you will know… Dad, I'm scared!"

At 15:15 GMT on 24 January 2019, after a "very thorough and extensive search" including 80 hours of combined searching undertaken by three planes, five helicopters and two lifeboats, Guernsey Police announced that they had called off the search for the plane or survivors. The decision led to calls worldwide for the search to continue which included numerous other footballers, including fellow Argentine players Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Sergio Agüero and former player Diego Maradona. The president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, stated his intention to issue a formal request to the British and French governments for the search to resume. An online petition also attracted over 65,000 signatures and Sala's family later announced their intention to fund a private search. Over £280,000 has been raised for a private search on GoFundMe started by Sports Cover, a sports agency that represents Sala. The funds enabled the search to resume on 26 January, with two boats being launched, led by marine scientist David Mearns.

On 28 January, plans were announced for an underwater search to begin "within a week", dependant on weather conditions, using an unmanned remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to search an area of seabed north of Hurd's Deep. On 29 January, Cardiff City included Sala on the team sheet for their game against Arsenal, with a daffodil next to his name in lieu of a squad number.

On 30 January 2019, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch reported that they had found two seat cushions, which had washed up on a French beach, that were believed to be from the missing aircraft.