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Body pulled from wreckage is Emiliano Sala, police confirm

Police confirmed Thursday that a body pulled from the wreckage of a plane crash was that of Emiliano Sala. The 28-year-old soccer player had been traveling last month from France to join his new team in Wales when his flight went down in the English Channel.

The body of the pilot, 59-year-old David Ibbotson, has yet to be found by private search teams hired after British authorities called off their search on Jan. 24, saying at the time that “chances of survival” were “extremely remote.” That was three days after the plane was lost from radar, beginning a stretch of pain and frustration for the families of Sala and Ibbotson, who were the only people aboard the small aircraft, a Piper Malibu.