Missing footballer Emiliano Sala's father has pleaded with investigators to salvage the wreckage of his son's plane from the English Channel so they can 'rescue' his son and his family can finally get answers.
Heartbroken Horacio Sala thanked search teams who located the doomed aircraft 220ft down on the seabed yesterday and now hopes they can 'find out what happened' and 'have some degree of certainty.'
A haunting image of the wreckage was released by the Air Accident Investigation Branch yesterday, as the agency revealed it contains the body of either Sala or his pilot David Ibbotson.
Marine scientist David Mearns' team found the plane nearly two weeks after it disappeared after he volunteered to help the Sala family for free after initial search and rescue efforts by a number of agencies failed.
This is the first picture of the wreckage of Emiliano Sala's plane on the bottom of the Channel after it was located yesterday
Emiliano Sala (pictured) has been missing since after his plane went down over the English Channel on January 21 - but the wreckage has been found a fortnight on
Mr Sala said: 'We hope that they can rescue him as soon as possible in order to find out what happened, or at least to have some degree of certainty.
He acknowledged 'all the players that have contributed and given money because it was an expensive search' and added he'd like to 'thank all the people that have supported everyone.'
Emiliano Sala's father Horacio (pictured last week) has told how he hopes rescue teams can now salvage the plane so they can find out what happened
Mr Mearns told ITV News the Sala family are 'desperately hoping' for a salvage operation as they believe it was 'the only route to get the answers about what had happened and why this plane had crashed.'
Mr Mearns tweeted this morning: 'I would like to acknowledge the team from A-2-Sea Solutions Ltd of Southampton who pulled out all the stops to get the FPV MORVEN rapidly mobilised and repositioned to Guernsey.
'The team performed very well and the Sala family are very thankful for their efforts.'
An AAIB spokesman said yesterday after video footage of the plane was released: 'Tragically, in video footage from the ROV, one occupant is visible amidst the wreckage.
'The AAIB is now considering the next steps, in consultation with the families of the pilot and passenger, and the police'.
The new image of the plane shows the rear left side of the fuselage, including part of the aircraft registration, N264DB.
A decision has yet to be taken on whether to raise the wreckage to the surface.
The statement added: 'The AAIB is now considering the next steps, in consultation with the families of the pilot and passenger, and the police.'
The families of the £15million striker and his pilot Mr Ibbotson are still waiting to hear whose body is in the fuselage of the Piper Malibu that vanished in a storm two weeks ago.
Sala's bereft father who is still in Argentina and has not joined his ex-wife, son and daughter in Britain, told reporters yesterday when the plane was first located: 'I cannot believe it .... this is a dream ... a bad dream ... I'm desperate'.
The coastguard abandoned their search last week after ruling out any survivors of the air crash with the footballer's family brought in a celebrated shipwreck hunter to lead the search.
This map has been issued by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch showing the position where the wreckage of the plane which was carrying Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala was discovered
The sea search vessel FPV Morven picked up the wreckage using sonar yesterday morning and an unmanned Air Accident Investigation Branch submarine sent to the sea bed used an HD camera to identify the blue and white aircraft.
Mr Mearns and his team, working in conjunction with the AAIB, found the remains of the plane within two hours of starting their search.
He said he had stayed in regular contact with the Sala family by text message because of the language barrier.
He said: 'Now their worst fears are confirmed, so I would imagine they would be just as devastated - it's going to take a long time for them to come to terms with the loss.'
Marine Scientist David Mearns, is interviewed by reporters as he leaves Guernsey after he helped discover the wreckage of the plane that was carrying footballer Emiliano Sala
The 19-metre survey vessel FPV Morven returning into St Peter Port Harbour following the first day seabed search for the plane
Midday today: Poor weather and high seas could hamper the recovery operation with an approaching storm shown in red on the left of the
