Emiliano Raúl Sala Taffarel (Spanish pronunciation: [emiˈljano ˈsala]; 31 October 1990 – 21 January 2019) was an Argentine professional footballer who played as a striker.

An initial three-day search that covered 4,400 square kilometres (1,700 sq mi) across the English Channel failed to locate the crash site.

In France, he settled in Carquefou, a small town outside of Nantes, and would spend his free time with friends made there or walking his rescue dog, Nala.

[16] Sala played one official match for Crato, scoring twice, but suddenly decided to leave the club and return to Argentina, saying that his girlfriend was "in trouble" in his homeland.

[19] On 8 February 2012, Sala made his Bordeaux senior competitive debut in the 2011–12 Coupe de France round of 16 3–1 away defeat against Olympique Lyonnais, coming on as a substitute in the 105th minute for Jussiê.

[8] At the start of the 2014–15 season, Sala was brought into the first team squad with Bordeaux by manager Willy Sagnol and was rewarded with a two-year extension to his contract.

[26] However, it proved to be his only goal in eleven appearances, and he was loaned to SM Caen, another Ligue 1 club, for the second half of the 2014–15 season as a replacement for Mathieu Duhamel.

[28][29] He made his debut for Nantes on the opening day of the 2015–16 season, during a 1–0 victory over Guingamp, and scored his first goal for the club on 5 December 2015 in a 1–1 draw with Ajaccio.

[32] At the start of the 2018–19 season, Sala fell out of favour under new manager Miguel Cardoso who preferred Kalifa Coulibaly as the club's first choice striker.

Turkish side Galatasaray made a late bid to sign Sala on the last day of the summer transfer window but the move later collapsed.

Vahid Halilhodžić was appointed as the club's new manager and in his first match in charge,[29] on 20 October 2018, Sala scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 Ligue 1 home win over Toulouse.

[34] Sala's good form saw him as the joint-highest goalscorer in Ligue 1 at the start of December, his tally of twelve goals tied with Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappé.

[36][37] On 19 January 2019, Sala joined Premier League side Cardiff City on a three-and-a-half-year deal for a club record transfer fee,[38] reported to be £15 million.

[9] BBC Sport compared Sala to Jamie Vardy, describing him as "a player who likes wide spaces and being part of a team that has a strong counter-attacking style.

[48] After completing his medical at Cardiff, Sala returned to Nantes on Saturday 19 January, on a plane arranged by football agent Mark McKay.

[51] Sala had been invited to attend Cardiff's match against Newcastle United by manager Neil Warnock, but he returned to France to say goodbye to his Nantes teammates and collect personal belongings.

If in an hour and a half you have no news from me, I don't know if they are going to send someone to look for me because they cannot find me, but you will know... Man, I'm scared!Guernsey Police initially searched for three days about 4,400 km2 (1,700 sq mi) across the English Channel.

[52] On 29 January, Cardiff City included Sala on the team sheet for their game against Arsenal, with a daffodil next to his name in place of a squad number.

[66] On 30 January, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) reported that they had found two seat cushions washed up on a French beach, which were believed to be from the missing aircraft.

[82][83] On 25 February, a Special Bulletin was issued by the AAIB, giving a radar track of final section of flight including photographs of the wreckage on the sea-bed.

[85] On 29 April, two people were arrested after a photograph purporting to show the dead body of Emiliano Sala during a post-mortem was posted on Twitter.

[86] On 19 June 2019, Dorset Police announced that they had arrested a man on suspicion of manslaughter by an unlawful act in respect of the death of Sala.

His identity was not made public, but several newspapers identified the man as pilot David Henderson, who arranged the flight and had originally intended to fly the plane.

[91][92] On 14 August, it was reported that toxicology tests on Sala's body showed high levels of exposure to carbon monoxide, and the AAIB considered it was likely that the pilot would also have been exposed to the gas, potentially leading to drowsiness or unconsciousness.

[93] In September 2022, the BBC released recordings of the pilot, David Ibbotson, who also died in the crash, saying "I'll be wearing my life jacket" on the journey from France to Wales.