The multi-organisational search for a light aircraft which disappeared on Monday night was called off with the Harbourmaster having said that they did all they could.
Captain David Barker said he understands why the family of footballer Emiliano Sala - on the plane along with the pilot - were unhappy with the decision to call off the search in the third full day of searching.
International footballer Emiliano Sala, 28, and pilot Dave Ibbotson, 60, were in the Malibu Piper plane flying from Nantes to Cardiff on Monday night when they lost contact air traffic control centre in Jersey flying at around 2000ft. There has been no trace of the plane or the men since then.
Pictured: Dave Ibbotson and Emiliano Sala.
Capt. Barker said during yesterday's press conference that there was no protocol in terms of how long a search should typically last but having considered the strong tides it was felt best to call off the search at this point.
Search crews were able to attend the scene within half an hour of the plane losing contact, and they initially searched until the early hours of Tuesday morning. The search resumed throughout the day on Tuesday and Wednesday and again on Thursday morning before the difficult decision was made to stand down.
Although the search has been called off the Air Traffic Control Records have been sent to the Air Accident Investigation Branch and it is still being treated as a missing persons case. Other information such as the WhatsApp recording said to have been sent by Emiliano Sala was said to be forensically examined as part of the ongoing case. The pair are to be presumed alive until they are found.
Above: Watch the video. Full statement begins at 6.57.
A media conference was called at around 15:15 yesterday during which the Harbourmaster Capt. David Barker fielded questions from the international media.
Asked by a journalist from Good Morning Britain whether or not he was surprised they had found nothing at all, Capt. Barker said he was not.
"The waters concerned are at flood tide and bring tide, there are up to 12 knots of currents running through these waters and so our search area, by the hour, has been getting larger and larger," he said.
It was also confirmed during the conference that the last known contact was made near the Hurd Deep, a notorious stretch of deep water around the island.
"Hurd Deep is very close to the last known position of the aircraft, it is over 100m in depth so finding anything in that depth of water is very difficult but we can't say conclusively if that's on the sea bed that that's where it is," he said.
Pictured: Hurd's Deep
National media reported that Mr Sala's sister was particularly upset by the decision to call off the search, but Capt. Barker said he had offered to speak with the family personally.
"I have spoken to the family of Mr Ibbotson, I haven't had the chance to speak to the family of Emiliano Sala but I've offered to speak with them if that's what they want. I understand that Emiliano Sala's family are not content with the decision to stop the search and I fully understand that.
"We've reviewed it very carefully following the same protocol that the UK coastguard would follow in taking such decisions, I'm absolutely confident that we could not have done any more," he said.
Pictured top: Captain David Barker.
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