Seabed search for missing plane starting

Sunday 03 February 2019

The privately funded search for the missing plane which was carrying footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot Dave Ibbotson was expected to start in earnest at 03:00 today.

A sonar equipped survey vessel arrived in St Peter Port Harbour on Thursday, while Oceanographer David Mearns has been waiting for a break in the weather so he can safely go out and do some research.

During a press conference yesterday, he explained what he planned to do to find the missing plane, after a Go Fund Me campaign raised £300,000 for a search to be resumed. He had said that the next stage of the work, including going out on the sonar enabled boat, was likely to start in the early hours today.

Any money left over will go into a fund for the families of the two missing men, he told Express.

Pictured: Dave Ibbotson and Emiliano Sala. 

The private search being carried out by Mr Mearns, using the MORVEN survey vessel, is being run separately but in tandem with the ongoing enquiries being carried out by the Air Accident Investigation Branch.

They have narrowed the search area down to 2sq nautical miles with each vessel to check half.

A spokesperson for the AAIB told Express last week that its intention was always to conduct a seabed search but it was dependant on finding a suitable vessel which it had done.

"The end of the surface search and rescue operation was a decision made by local authorities.

"AAIB has been considering the feasibility of a seabed search for aircraft wreckage over the last week. We were able to announce our intention once we had secured a suitable vessel. In any case, due to the weather forecast, this coming weekend is the earliest advisable time to begin the search,” the spokesperson said. 

Pictured: One of the cushions reported by a French news site to be the ones which the Bureau d’Enquêtes & d’Analyses (BEA) in France alerted the AAIB about on Monday morning. 

In a statement, released last Wednesday, the AAIB also said the search area had been narrowed down, after two cushions believed to have come from the Piper Malibu had washed up on a beach on the west coast of France.

Speaking to actu.fr, Josette Bernerd, who reportedly found one of the pieces of wreckage in Surtainville last Saturday, said she alerted police who collected the items.

"It was a backrest and I could see it was a backrest from the missing plane. I called the police, who then put me in touch with the coast-guards in Cherbourg. They came to collect the backrest,” she was quoted as saying.

Camille Leblond also found a piece of debris which she reported to police a week ago today. 

“I was walking my dogs on the beach. At first I thought 'It must come from a boat.' It was 17:30 and it was close to the Bel Sito camping site, it’s the main access to the beach in Baubigny.

"I thought that if it was my brother on the plane, I would like whoever finds clues to say something. When I got home, an hour later, I called the police in Barneville-Carteret. They told me they would come to collect the piece. My parents told me later they had passed them. It’s just presumed debris. Maybe it’s the backrest from a boat seat. Anywyay, that’s all I saw. It was really windy on Sunday.”

Pictured: The cushions washed up on the coast of France directly across from Sark on this map. 

Pictured top: The search vessel which is now in St Peter Port Harbour, will start sweeping the sea bed for clues to the whereabouts of the missing plane on Sunday.