The audio of Emiliano Sala’s final messages to friends before his plane was lost over the English Channel has emerged.
Cardiff City’s record £15 million signing is missing and presumed dead after his private plane went off radar on Monday night at 8.23pm.
According to SCMP, the Piper PA-46 Malbiu plane had taken off from Nantes Atlantique airport around an hour earlier, and disappeared north of Guernsey as it made its way to Cardiff.
A search was suspended on Tuesday night, with Guernsey police saying the chances of survival were “slim” if the plane landed in water.
The Argentinian striker, signed from French Ligue 1 side Nantes, was set to train with his new teammates on Tuesday. The Premier League club has since cancelled the training session.
“Hello, little brothers, how are you crazy people?” Sala says in audio messages posted to Argentinian website Ole.com, which claims they were sent to a WhatsApp group of friends and other players.
“Brother, I’m really tired, I was here in Nantes doing things, things, things, things and things, and it never stops, it never stops, it never stops.
“I’m here on a plane that looks like it’s about to fall apart, and I’m going to Cardiff, crazy, tomorrow we already start, and in the afternoon we start training, boys, in my new team.”
The 28-year-old then sent another message later saying:
“How are you guys, all good? If you do not have any more news from me in an hour and a half, I don’t know if they need to send someone to find me … I am getting scared!”
It has also emerged that Sala expressed concern about the plane to Nantes defender Nicolas Pallois, who dropped him off at the airport, which he said had been “bumpy” when he took it from Cardiff to France on Sunday, and also texted to say the plane was making “weird noises”.
