Emiliano Sala is a name that will be remembered not just by Cardiff fans but football fans around the world. Only a few days after securing the move of his career to Cardiff F.C. of the Premier League after stellar play for Nantes he was aboard a plane that went missing on the 21st of January in the Channel Islands. The football world was left shocked because a high profile signing was carried via a plane that was old, inappropriate and many wondered why this was the case?
As soon as the news broke around the odd circumstances surrounding the plane’s disappearance guilt fingers started pointing. Was it the club’s fault, or the player agents? Ultimately it didn’t matter since days and days passed without any new news. Many speculated whether Emiliano Sala and his pilot could have survived and been on a life raft somewhere in the channel island. Even if that was the case hope was at an all-time low several days after the disappearance because the waters in the Channel Islands at this time of the year are not a walk in the park.
After an extensive search, Guernsey police called off the search because of the improbability of finding survivors this late after the crash. The news didn’t sit well with the sporting news as many prominent Argentinian footballers as Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona urged continuation. The Argentinian president even admitted of issuing a formal request to the governments of France and UK to continue to search. Soon afterwards an online petition which gained the attention of 65 000 people raised over 280 000 pounds for a private search and plans were made, to begin with it shortly.
On January 29, a “moment of reflection in silence” was held on every stadium, and the Welsh team players came out on the ground wearing daffodils, a Welsh symbol. Cardiff played against Arsenal, with Emiliano Sala’s name on the official Cardiff squad, honouring the missing player’s memory.
The new searched commenced on 3rd February with Vessels using sonar search to scan the ocean bed. Approximately 6 hours after that the wreckage was found. It lied on the seabed at about a depth of 63 meters with reports confirming at least one occupant was found inside the wreckage.
With that news going around the world at around 22 pm GMT many Cardiff fans started gathering outside of Cardiff City Stadium to light candles and leave flowers on a place which hosted a large number of those things already. Many wept, many stood in shock as the news confirmed what many football fans around the world already knew.
At this point, there are rumours that say Emiliano Sala was forced to board the plane. Maximiliano Duarte, one of Sala’s friends, said that Emiliano was forced to get on the plane, although he was not feeling safe. The weather conditions were awful and the plane was a small, piston-engined Piper PA-46 Malibu, with a capacity of six people, including the pilot. Given the circumstances, the plane should have stayed on the ground that evening. Duarte points a finger at Willie McKay, Sala’s agent, for forcing the player (and the pilot) to take the flight.
As of today, the rescue team is certain that a body is inside the plane’s wreck, but its recovery is tedious. Another speculation is that the pilot, David Ibbotson, has experienced an engine malfunction due to freezing weather and tried to land the plane on water, which may have happened or not. At this point, with the plane wreck still at the bottom of the ocean and only one body, no one knows for sure why and how this accident happened.
Emiliano Sala perished in an aeroplane crash in times where flying was never safer. It’s truly a testament to how human neglect can make a fairy tale story for one bright man end tragically. The level of neglect is awfully similar to the one observed with the Chapecoense crash. It’s frustrating to see things that could have prevented happening. What kind of consolation could his family have after learning all of those factors? His name will never be forgotten by the football world yet we must learn to never repeat such mistakes again, otherwise he perished in vain and that would be the ultimate tragedy.
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