FILE PHOTO: Emiliano Sala in action at La Beaujoire Stadium, Nantes, on March 18, 2017. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Plane carrying Cardiff City soccer player Sala disappears over English Channel

PARIS (Reuters) – Newly signed Cardiff City soccer player Emiliano Sala was missing on Tuesday after the light aircraft he was traveling in disappeared between France and England the previous evening, France’s civil aviation authority said.

Rescue helicopters and boats searched more than 1,000 square miles off the Channel Islands for the single-engine Piper Malibu that was flying Sala from the French city of Nantes to Cardiff when it lost radar contact off Guernsey late on Monday.

The 28-year-old Argentine forward joined Premier League strugglers Cardiff City from FC Nantes last week for a club record fee of about 17 million euros ($19 million). He had played in France since 2012.

“At this time no trace of the missing aircraft had been found,” Guernsey police said.