The family of Mr.David Ibbotson will have to waita little longer after an underwater search found “no sign” of the pilot of the plane which crashed with Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala on board.
David Ibbotson was flying the footballer to the UK when their Piper Malibu aircraft crashed near Guernsey on 21 January.
A shipwreck hunter who led the successful search for Sala’s body said a “thorough” trawl of the wreckage had failed to locate Mr Ibbotson but further searches are expected to continue.
The hunt for Mr Ibbotson, of Crowle, North Lincolnshire, is being funded via an online campaign launched by his family after that of the player was found.
David Mearns who also led the search for Sala, announced the result of the latest search in a tweet.
He said “two highly experienced technical divers spent 20 minutes searching and filming the plane”.
A dive vessel was situated close to the spot where the Piper Malibu lost contact with air traffic control.
In a notice issued to mariners, Guernsey Harbours asked vessels to give the dive boat Skin Deep a “wide berth” between 06:00 and 12:00 GMT.
Mr Mearns has previously said he was assisting with attempts to find Mr Ibbotson, which would be “technically very different” to the previous underwater search.
The appeal launched by Mr Ibbotson’s family has raised nearly £250,000.
It was boosted with contributions from French footballer Kylian Mbappe, who donated £27,000, and former England captain Gary Lineker who gave £1,000.
On the page, his sister Danielle Ibbotson wrote: “We can not bear the thought of him being alone, we need him home so that we are able to lay him to rest to be able to say goodbye.”
A preliminary report into the crash by the Air Accident Investigation Branch confirmed the pilot held a private licence but not one for commercial flights.
The Piper Malibu N264DB was en route from Nantes in France to Cardiff, two days after the Argentine striker’s £15m transfer was announced.
An official search was called off on 24 January, but Sala’s body was found after an appeal launched by his agent raised £324,000 (371,000 euros) for a private search.