Raissa's Blog - Best of Sports, Culture, and Entertainment

Emiliano Sala (left) and David Ibbotson (right) A new search for the body of missing David Ibbotson who piloted the doomed plane carrying Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala will resume next week, as revealed by the pilot's family. David Ibbotson was flying Emiliano Sala - in a Piper Malibu aircraft - to Wales when it went missing over the English Channel last month. An official search for the missingSala and Ibbotson was called off on January 24 but a private search discovered the wreckage on the sea bed of the English Channel and a body, whichturned out to be Sala's .  Emiliano Sala Ibbotson's body wasn't found, so the family set up acrowdfunding campaign to fund a new search for his body. The campaign has so far raised more than £240,000. Ibbotson's daughter Danielle has posted an update on the  fundraising site - a GoFundMe page - thanking donors and announcing the possible resumption of the search next week. "Thank you all so much for you...

New Cardiff City signing Emiliano Sala was confirmed dead last week after the recovery of a body from the wreckage of the plane that carried he and pilot David Ibbotson. A post-mortem has found that the Argentinian football player died from injuries to his head and torso. A hearing of the post-mortem examination of his body took place on Monday, and Dorset Coroner's Court concluded Sala passed away due to injuries to his head and trunk. Assistant Dorset Coroner Brendan Allen revealed that Sala's body was identified from fingerprints after recovery.  Mr Sala was identified on February 7 by means of fingerprint evidence analyses by fingerprint expert Christopher Bradbury," said Ian Parry, a senior coroner's officer for Dorset. He added, "A post mortem was carried out after the body was taken to Holly Tree Lodge mortuary. "Home office pathologist Mr Purdue gave the cause of death as a head and trunk injuries." The Air Accident Investigation repor...

The family of David Ibbotson, the pilot who steered the doomed aircraft that crashed over the English Channel resulting in the death of Cardiff player Emiliano Sala , have set up a fundraising page for donations to help restart a search for the pilot. Experts recently reported that Ibbotson may have still had some control over the plane when it crashed down. Ibbotson's body was not found in the wreckage and experts believe there are very slim chances of him ever being found. The GoFundMe page has so far raised more than £20,000. A message on the site reads: 'Please help bring David Ibbotson home and help give him the send off he deserves. 'As a family we are relying on the kindness of the good hearted people to help us raise the much needed funds to help us find our beloved Dad, Husband and Son. 'As a family we are trying to come to terms with the tragedy and the loss of two incredible men. 'To be told the search has now been called off for the fore...

David Mearns, oceanographer and director of Bluewater Recoveries, who headed the renewed search efforts to locate the then missing plane carrying Emiliano Sala and David Ibbotson, says both Sala and Ibbotson's families know they are dead. Mearns and his company were able to locate the plane just hours after the search had commenced, with video footage revealing a body on board the wreckage. All hope of miraculously finding the pair alive has been lost as Mearns confirmed the priority is to try to recover the bodies. In an interview with Argentine publication  Clarin , Mearns said,  “What these families know at the moment is that both [Sala and Ibbotson] are dead and what they want is to recover their bodies." “The most important thing is the bodies. Recovering the bodies is the most important thing for both families. The plane is a different matter, that's related only to determining the cause of the accident.” Mearns offered some insight into how the bodies wo...