Emiliano Sala's mum says 'pain will never go away' on anniversary of his death

1/30
Jacob Jarvis21 January 2020

Emiliano Sala's mother said the pain of losing her son "will never go away" as she spoke of her sorrow one year on from his death.

The Argentinian footballer died on January 21 last year when a plane taking him from Nantes to Cardiff plummeted into the English Channel near to Guernsey.

His body was recovered after the crash but the pilot, David Ibbotson, has still not been discovered.

Sala's mother, Mercedes, said it has been a "terrible, terrible year" following the death of her son.

In Pictures | Candles in Nantes for Emiliano Sala

1/15

"It seems as if it was yesterday, and it's already been one year. The pain is intact and it will never go away," she told the BBC.

"I loved him so much. I would tell him every day."

Both Nantes and Cardiff fans are set to pay tribute to the late striker, and Mercedes described such gestures as "touching".

In Pictures | Emiliano Sala tributes at Cardiff City | 02/02/2019

1/28

"As a mother, seeing all this love, all these messages, feeling the comfort of so many people, it is touching. But what can I say? I just want to have him here with me," she said.

She and Sala's family are set to spend the anniversary in "quiet contemplation of their loss", according to the lawyer representing them in Britain.

“The Sala family will mark the anniversary of the untimely death of Emiliano in private, quiet contemplation of their loss,” Daniel Machover of Hickman & Rose solicitors, who is representing the family, said in a statement.

“The family’s primary concern remains for the full inquest to take place as soon as possible, so that they can finally learn the truth about what happened and ensure that no family has to suffer a similar preventable loss of a loved one."

He urged the Civil Aviation Authority, the police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch to make haste in updating the coroner involved in the inquest.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has said it intends to publish a final report by the end of March.

Sala signed for Cardiff City from French club Nantes for £15 million on January 18, 2019. He was flown from the Welsh city back to Nantes the next day then the fatal crash happened on the return on January 21.

Cardiff have issued a statement on behalf of the owner Vicent Tan and the board. This read: “All of our thoughts are with the family and friends of Emiliano Sala and (pilot) David Ibbotson.

“The pain they have been through over the last 12 months must be indescribable.

“To mark the anniversary we are welcoming supporters to lay floral tributes at the Fred Keenor Statue [outside the club's stadium] throughout the day."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in