sport news Nantes retire No 9 shirt in honour of Emiliano Sala

Nantes have retired their No 9 shirt in honour of former striker Emiliano Sala, whose body was found in a plane wreckage in the English Channel this week. 

On Wednesday, it emerged an unidentified body - now known to be Sala - was brought off ship, Geo Ocean III, on a stretcher and transferred to a private ambulance before being taken to Dorset Police and the local coroner.

The plane was flying from Nantes, France, the home of Sala's former team, to Cardiff on January 21, when it crashed into the sea with the new £15million signing and pilot David Ibbotson inside.

Nantes have retired their No 9 shirt in honour of their former striker Emiliano Sala

Nantes have retired their No 9 shirt in honour of their former striker Emiliano Sala

The body in the plane wreckage in the English Channel has been identified as Emiliano Sala

The body in the plane wreckage in the English Channel has been identified as Emiliano Sala

This is the first picture of the wreckage of Sala's plane as a private search was undertaken

This is the first picture of the wreckage of Sala's plane as a private search was undertaken

The body, found on Wednesday, was taken to Dorset and carried away on a stretcher to police

The body, found on Wednesday, was taken to Dorset and carried away on a stretcher to police

Timeline: How the Sala tragedy unfolded 

January 21, 2019: The single-turbine engine Piper PA-46 Malibu leaves Nantes at 7.15pm for Cardiff and is flying at an altitude of 5,000ft. At 8.50pm the plane disappears from radar in the English Channel.

January 22: The French civil aviation authority confirms Argentinian footballer Emiliano Sala, 28, who had just signed for Cardiff City, was on board the light aircraft. Piloting the plane was David Ibbotson, from Crowle, near Scunthorpe.

January 24: Guernsey's harbour master Captain David Barker says the chances Sala and Mr Ibbotson have survived is 'extremely remote'.  

January 26: It emerges that football agent Willie McKay arranged for the flight to take Sala to Cardiff but he says he had no involvement in selecting the plane or pilot. He also backs calls for the search to continue.

January 27: Relatives and friends of Sala arrive in Guernsey, having enlisted the help of shipwreck hunting expert David Mearns. 

January 28: Sala's family, including his mother Mercedes and sister Romina, take a chartered flight in a plane operated by Guernsey airline Aurigny over the area where the plane disappeared.

January 30: The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) says two seat cushions found washed up earlier in the week near Surtainville on the Cotentin Peninsula are likely to have come from the plane carrying Sala and his pilot.

February 3: Wreckage of the plane is located in a fresh, privately funded search which was made possible after a fundraising campaign saw more than £260,000 donated.

Feburary 4: A body is visible in seabed video footage of the wreckage of the plane. The AAIB says the footage was filmed using an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) which was surveying the area after the plane was located.

February 6: A body seen in the wreckage of the plane is recovered. The AAIB says the body will be taken to Portland to be passed over to the Dorset coroner for examination.

The aircraft remains 67 metres underwater 21 miles off the coast of Guernsey. The AAIB says attempts to recover the aircraft wreckage were unsuccessful and, due to continued poor weather forecast, 'the difficult decision was taken to bring the overall operation to a close'.

February 7: The Geo Ocean III search boat returns to dock in Portland, Dorset, carrying the wreckage of the Piper Malibu aircraft. Investigators confirm the body inside the wreckage is that of the Argentinian footballer.  

A statement from Dorset Police, released on Thursday night, read: 'The body brought to Portland Port today, Thursday 7 February 2019, has been formally identified by HM Coroner for Dorset as that of professional footballer Emiliano Sala.

'The families of Mr Sala and the pilot David Ibbotson have been updated with this news and will continue to be supported by specially-trained family liaison officers. Our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.

'HM Coroner will continue to investigate the circumstances of this death supported by Dorset Police.

'On Monday 21 January 2019 a plane carrying both men was flying from Nantes to Cardiff when it lost contact with Air Traffic Control, north of Guernsey.

'Sadly a search and rescue operation was unsuccessful in locating the plane and the two occupants. 

'Subsequently AAIB and privately funded search teams were deployed to the relevant area. Using specialist equipment the teams succeeded in locating and identifying the plane and

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