The airplane which carried missing English Premier League footballer, Emiliano Sala, has been found.

Guardian reports that a search boat hired privately by Sala’s Argentinian family located the wreckage on Sunday morning.

The crew passed the details of the location on to government investigators, who used a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to examine the spot.

There was no immediate official confirmation of what was found but the shipwreck specialist leading the private investigation, David Mearns, said the plane had been discovered.

Emiliano Sala, the humble forward who enriched everyone’s lives

He said it had been located by the privately hired vessel FPV Morven, which had passed the information on to the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). Mearns said the AAIB had moved its vessel, the Geo Ocean III, to the spot and visually identified the wreckage with an ROV.

Mearns tweeted: “Wreckage of the plane carrying Emiliano Sala and piloted by David Ibbotson was located early this morning by the FPV MORVEN. As agreed with the AAIB they moved the GEO OCEAN III over the position we provided them to visually identify the plane by ROV.”

In a second tweet he said: “The families of Emiliano Sala and David Ibbotson have been notified by Police. The AAIB will be making a statement tomorrow. Tonight our sole thoughts are with the families and friends of Emiliano and David.”

TheLagostimes recalls that the Piper Malibu PA-46 carrying 28-year-old Sala and Ibbotson, 59, from Lincolnshire, disappeared over the Channel on 21 January after leaving Nantes in France at about 7.15pm for Cardiff.