The heartbroken ex-girlfriend of missing footballer Emiliano Sala yesterday sensationally claimed the striker’s plane crash was not an accident.
The outburst from Victoria’s Secret model Berenice Schkair came amid growing confusion over why the £15million Argentinian striker refused the offer of a flight arranged by his new club Cardiff City and opted to take a private flight across the English Channel.
Sala, 28, was the sole passenger as the Piper Malibu light aircraft flew in pitch darkness and sub-zero conditions on Monday night.
The aircraft type has reportedly been involved in 55 fatal crashes in its service lifetime, including 24 since 2000, but there is no suggestion it was unsuitable for such a trip.
Former pilot Alastair Rosenschein revealed the plane could have iced-up in the Arctic blast sweeping northern Europe.
He said: “It’s already a fairly risky crossing to do in a single-engine aircraft, especially in winter and definitely at night.
“There are icing problems too. It’s a strange thing to do though, to go and fly over water with one engine at night in winter because if your engine goes, you’re going in the water.”
The plane was being flown on the 460-mile journey from Nantes to South Wales by 60-year-old pilot, gas engineer and part-time DJ Dave Ibbotson, a grandfather and father of three from Scunthorpe.
It has been claimed he had to abandon three attempts at take-off and in a final Facebook post to friends admitted he was “rusty” with the controls.
Underwear model Ms Schkair, 27, an Argentinian, tweeted: “Investigate the football mafia because I don’t believe this was an accident.”
She subsequently posted photographs of them together on Instagram, writing: “Emi, my heart is broken.
“I still cannot understand it.
“I’m destroyed. I feel pain, fear and anger for not being able to do anything.
“I know you’re strong. We are waiting for you. I want to wake up and all of this to be a lie.”
She pleaded for the search not to be abandoned.
In a chilling WhatsApp recording on Monday night Sala told loved ones they may need to “send someone to find me” as he boarded the sixs-eater plane.