'Chances Of Survival Slim' Authorities say

A Piper Malibu carrying Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala  from France to England went down Monday in the English Channel, and no sign of any survivors has been found. Sala and the pilot were the only people believed to be on board the aircraft.

Sala had traveled to Nantes, France to say goodbye to his former teammates. He had just signed a $19.3 million contract with the English Premier League club Cardiff City. It was on the return flight that the plane disappeared from radar while over the English Channel in what was reported to be stormy weather. There was no distress call from the airplane, according to a report from CNN.

Authorities have searched nearly 1,200 square miles of the English Channel without finding any evidence that anyone survived the accident. Some debris was found, but it could not be confirmed to have come from the Malibu. On Tuesday, Guernsey police said on Twitter that if the plane managed to ditch in the Channel "the chances of survival are at this stage, unfortunately, slim."

The Guernsey Police tweeted on Wednesday that they had resumed searching as of 7:30 a.m. local time in a targeted area based on tides and weather. However Air Search spokeswoman Alison Robins told CNN that the effort "has become a recovery operation."

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: CNN report, CBS Sports report