More than two years after Emiliano Sala died in a plane crash as the footballer was making his way to his new club, Cardiff City FC, his family have started a legal action.
Aged 28, Sala was signed by Cardiff from the French FC Nantes for £15 million but never reached the UK, after the single-engine Piper Malibu plane went down north of Guernsey.
The flight was allegedly arranged by David Henderson, who is due to stand trial in October. He is accused of endangering the safety of an aircraft, as well as attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorisation.
Sala’s family are asking the coroner to “fix the inquest date when she reviews matters, with a date soon after the trial of David Henderson, which has been fixed for 18 October 2021,” said lawyer Daniel Machover.
“In the meantime, to protect their legal rights and remedies arising from Emiliano’s untimely death, the family have commenced civil proceedings in the high court, but will seek agreement to stay those proceedings pending the outcome of the inquest. That makes it all the more important for the inquest date to be fixed, so everyone can plan accordingly. Most importantly, the family know that the inquest will provide the answers to the very many questions they have about what went wrong in January 2019 and why Emiliano’s life was cut short,” Machover added.
Sala’s body was recovered a month after the crash. It was also revealed that the pilot David Ibbotson had had no training in night flying.