THE family of footballer Emiliano Sala have launched legal action against Cardiff City and his former club over his death in a plane crash.
The 28-year-old striker was travelling to join the Welsh side after signing from FC Nantes when the aircraft hit the sea near Guernsey.
Emiliano Sala’s family have launched legal action against Cardiff CityCredit: AFP
A pre-inquest review into the Argentine player’s death took place in Bournemouth on Wednesday, but a full inquest won’t be held until next year.
Sala’s family today launched civil proceedings against 13 defendants.
Lawyers for the family said the high court action had been started to “protect their legal rights”.
It includes Cardiff City – the club he had signed for just three days before his death.
They are also taking legal action against his former French club, FC Nantes, which sold him for £15million.
Daniel Machover, of Hickman & Rose Solicitors, said: “In order to protect their legal rights and remedies arising from Emiliano’s untimely death, the family have commenced civil proceedings in the high court, but will seek agreement to stay those proceedings pending the outcome of the inquest.”
The wreckage of the plane which crashed into the Channel in January 2019Credit: PA:Press Association
Sala was killed on a flight to join his new club when the single-engine Piper Malibu plane crashed north of Guernsey on January 21, 2019.
His body was recovered the following month but the aircraft’s unqualified pilot, David Ibbotson, 59, from Crowle, Lincolnshire, has not been found.
David Henderson, who is alleged to have arranged the flight, is due to stand trial in October.
He is accused of endangering the safety of an aircraft, as well as attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorisation.
A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch previously concluded that the aircraft carrying Sala and Mr Ibbotson suffered an in-flight break-up while being flown too fast for its design limits.
It also found that the pilot lost control while attempting to avoid bad weather.
It added that Mr Ibbotson was probably affected by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Investigators found that a contributory factor in the crash was Mr Ibbotson having no training in night flying, and a lack of recent practice in relying only on cockpit instruments to control a plane.
They also found that he held a private pilot’s licence that did not allow him to conduct flights for reward.
Yellow flowers displayed in front of a portrait of Emiliano Sala at the Beaujoire stadium in NantesCredit: AFP or licensors
In January this year, on the second anniversary of the fatal air crash, Sala’s family demanded to know “the full truth” about his death.
In a statement, the family’s lawyer called for a formal inquest to be held after the trial of charter pilot Mr Henderson.
Henderson denied endangering the safety of an aircraft and attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorisation when he appeared before Cardiff Crown Court in October last year.
His trial has been set for October this year and lawyer Mr Machover, on behalf of the family, urged swift action by the UK authorities.
Machover said: “It is a tragedy that two years have passed since Emiliano’s death and we still do not know exactly how and why he died.
“An inquest is the only way to establish the full truth.
“I very much hope that the Dorset Coroner will now set a date for the inquest to start immediately after David Henderson’s trial, so that Emiliano’s family do not have to endure another bleak anniversary with no answers.”
The statement came one month after former Man United star Fabio revealed he spoke to Sala on the afternoon of his tragic death.
Fabio said: “In the afternoon he was going to take the plane, he asked me so many things about Cardiff, because he knew I had played there.
“I told him that anything he needed or wanted from me, he could text me. And then, in the morning, when I heard the news, it was shocking.
“Before he signed he asked me and I told him how the fans were, how everyone is in the stadium, how the club works.
“He was such a professional and to be honest, I was happy for him, because I knew Cardiff fans would have loved him. He was a fantastic character.”
Emiliano Sala crash – wife of pilot David Ibbotson says family will ‘never get closure’ as investigation to be published
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
