Crowdfunding for a private search for missing Sala and his pilot raises £120,000

A GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a private search for missing footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot Dave Ibbotson, had raised more than £120,000 after being launched on Friday evening.

Nearly 1,700 people had responded to the appeal for funds in less than 24 hours by Saturday afternoon.

The cash appeal was launched by Sport Cover, the name of Emiliano's agent Meissa N'Diaye's Paris-based football agency.

A message on the web fundraiser, which carries the Spanish language hashtag #NoDejenDeBuscar Emiliano Sala and means 'Don't Stop Looking for Emiliano Sala', said: 'This fund was created in response to the urgency of the situation and the authorities' decision not to pursue the search.

'Its sole objective, through a specialized non-profit organization, is to help the family of Emiliano and pilot Dave Ibbotson continue the search.

'Thank you for helping with the amount you want.'

One fan who donated 20 euros wrote: 'Emiliano, if there's only the slightest hope I'm donating these 20 euros for the resumption of the search.

'You are in my heart and I want to help your family find you in any way I can.

'Whatever happens, you will always be in my thoughts. You are a great footballer and a wonderful person.

'Hoping to see you back on the pitch again soon. Good luck my friend.'

The official search and rescue operation for the Piper PA-46 Malibu taking new Cardiff City signing Sala, 28, from Nantes in France to the Welsh capital was called off on Thursday, three days after the small aircraft went missing over the Channel.

Last night Arsenal and Man United players sported black arm bands and took part in a moment of applause for the footballer whose plane went down on Monday night, hurtling his plane into the English Channel which has been suffering from an arctic blast blown over from Europe.

Emiliano Sala's model friend Berenice Schkair branded the decision to halt the search for the footballer 'shameful.'

The pretty blonde, who hinted at foul play in a Twitter rant on Wednesday by claiming 'football mafia' should be probed over the plane's disappearance, accused officials of 'washing their hands' yesterday/on Friday in a new social media attack.

She said: 'The abandonment of Emiliano and the missing pilot by the clubs and governments is shameful.

'No-one is taking responsibility and everyone is washing their hands of them. What a total injustice.'

This comes as many people slammed the decision to end the search social media, including boxer Ohara Davies who asked why millions was spent on the Madeleine McCann search but the search for Sala ended after just a few days.

The president of former Nantes striker Sala's boyhood Argentinian club has also said he must be found dead or alive and described officials who called off the rescue operation as 'cold.'

Daniel Rivero, president of San Martin de Progreso where Emiliano played football until he was 15, said: 'Unless we see evidence they're not, we continue to believe Emiliano and the pilot are alive. Nothing's appeared so far to back up the idea there's been an accident.

'This is an international incident and we are going to carry on doing what we can to keep up the pressure and soften peoples' hearts a bit.

'If in the worst case scenario that they are not alive, we want Emiliano's body found just the same, for everyone but especially his family so they can at least have somewhere to bury him and take flowers to him.

'Otherwise this is going to be a circle that can never be closed.'

Asked if the officials who led the search would have been touched by the drama as much as people in the town of Progreso in Santa Fe province where Emiliano spent most of his childhood, he said: 'They're cold, they're special, they're not as hot-blooded as us.

'They're stricter, more bound by protocol. That has its advantages and disadvantages and for us it's a disadvantage.

'They have a different idiosyncrasy, a different type of training. I'm not saying they're less interested but they do what they have to do and they don't budge a centimetre from that.'

Emiliano's family also sent a letter to Argentinian President Mauricio Macri urging him to pressure the British and French governments into trying to make sure the search was resumed.

Overnight it emerged father-of-three Macri has asked his Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie to talk to his counterparts in France and Britain.

A statement issued by the President's office said: 'President Mauricio Macri has instructed his Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie to make a formal request to the governments of Great Britain and France for them to seek the continuance of the search efforts.'

Several Argentinian footballers including Lionel Messi and new Chelsea signing Gonzalo Higuain have campaigned on social media for a resumption of the operation.

Rescue teams have scanned around 1,700 square miles and examined mobile phone data and satellite imagery but found no trace of the aircraft, which disappeared from radar on Monday evening.

Guernsey's harbour master Captain David Barker saids when he confirmed the 'difficult' decision to call of the search that the chances of survival were 'extremely remote.'

He has acknowledged Sala's family were 'not content' with the decisions to stop searching but said he was 'absolutely confident' no more could have been done.

He insisted yesterday: 'I can't begin to imagine how they must be feeling, but I do understand and I hope they will find some comfort from the fact that we are not closing this incident.'

Earlier this week one of Britain's leading aviation experts, Julian Bray, told MailOnline that if the wreckage is ever found investigators will try to work out if its instruments froze and failed in the Arctic blast currently in northern Europe.

It also emerged that pilot Dave Ibbotson, 60, a father of four boiler engineer from Scunthorpe, touted for 'odd flying jobs' on Facebook and had four outstanding county court judgments, totalling £18,000, at the time of the crash.

The main reason Sala wanted to fly back to Nantes was to get his black Labrador Nala, it has been revealed.

A source close to the transfer told MailOnline: 'Emiliano was desperate to fly back after signing to Cardiff to see Nala and make sure he was in Kennels ahead of moving him to Cardiff. They were inseparable'.

Mr Bray said that a device called a 'pitot tube' on the outside of the aircraft is prone to problems in extreme cold, including giving false altitude readings.

He said: 'Just before they vanished the pilot asked to drop from 5,00ft to 2,500ft, which is very unusual indeed.

'It is possible that he dropped down to try to thaw his instruments'.

Suggesting he could have crashed directly into the Channel in the dark he added: 'I'm wondering if he was at a much lower level than he thought.

'The sensor may have frozen and gave a different height reading'.

The plane is feared to have sunk in Hurd's Deep - the 600ft deep underwater valley where British submarine HMS Affray sits on the seabed after sinking in 1951.

It lies next to tonnes of radioactive waste, chemical weapons and munitions dumped into its depths after both world wars.

Ships passing through the Channel are now being asked to look out for debris - but Sala's family are furious at the decision to stop searching for the 28-year-old.

In emotional scenes  outside the St David's Hotel in Cardiff, his sister Romina Sala begged: 'Please, please, please don't stop the search.'

She told the media: 'We understand the facts and we really appreciate the efforts.

'We want to say thanks to the two clubs and everyone who is looking for Emiliano, but my message is please, please, please don't stop with the search. For me, they are still alive.

'It is very difficult to express my feelings at the moment because it is really hard.

'We have had a lot of support from the two clubs and I thank all the fans for their efforts, but deep down in the bottom of my heart I know that Emiliano – who is a fighter – is still alive.

'I know Emiliano and the pilot are somewhere in the middle of the channel. We are not going to give up.'

She added: 'The last time I spoke to him was on Monday before he said farewell to the Nantes players. He was really excited about coming to Cardiff and we were talking all day.'