supporters gather in the city after it was announced the plane forward
Emiliano Sala was flying on vanished during a flight to Cardiff
Hundreds of Nantes supporters came together in the city
centre to pay tribute to Emiliano Sala on Tuesday, after a light
aircraft he was travelling in disappeared over the English Channel.
The Argentine striker, signed for
Premier League strugglers Cardiff City on Saturday from the French club
for a reported fee of 17 million euros ($19.3 million), was flying to
the Welsh capital aboard the plane that disappeared from radars around
20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the island of Guernsey on Monday
night.
Fans placed flowers, scarves and flags on the
water fountain and chanted the striker’s name at Place Royale in the
northern city.
Members of the Nantes faithful praised Sala who had scored 12 goals in 19 league matches this season.
“He was in full-form, it’s tragic. He had his
whole career ahead of him, not behind him,” 27-year-old local worker
Jessie Balsac said.
“He
was a humble man, who didn’t make a fuss, I didn’t expect to see so
many people but it doesn’t surprise me, it shows how much he was liked
by the supporters,” added baker Ludovic Bon who was accompanying his
daughter at the vigil.
“There are children who have lost someone. He was a model for kids,” Isabelle Lanrivain, 37, said.
The search for Sala was postponed until
sunrise on Wednesday, with police on the British island warning that
survival chances were “slim” if the aircraft landed on water.