Three years ago, the world was shocked by the tragic plane crash that claimed the life of Emiliano Sala, then the Nantes striker who had signed for Cardiff.
Recently, the BBC has published the last moments of the Argentinian player's life, before starting the fatal journey, on January 21, 2019. In addition, a telephone call of the pilot David Ibbotson, with a colleague of his, was also published.
"They trusted me to get a player for Cardiff, they will pay 20 million euros for him. I went on an unsafe plane. I usually keep the life jacket under the seat, but tomorrow I will wear it", he said the day before, but the worries continued that day: "I'm flying over the English Channel and I heard a noise, I don't understand what it was. I checked everything, it seemed fine, I continued to fly. This plane should be returned to the hangar, it is not reliable."
It is recalled that the plane took off from France at 7:15 p.m. and at 8:12 p.m. lost contact with the control tower, crashing into the sea at an estimated speed of 434 km/h. The footballer's body was found just two weeks after the crash, while pilot David Ibbotson was never found and the location of the remains is unknown.
It later emerged that Cardiff had bought a ticket for a flight departing from Paris. However, Emiliano Sala ended up staying at Nantes, to say goodbye to Wille McKay, the transfer broker. So he ended up on a private flight with David Henderson, a pilot who passed the service to David Ibbotson, who did not have a professional pilot's license.