(Reuters) - The body of Argentina-born professional soccer player Emiliano Sala has been formally identified after it was brought to Portland Port on Thursday, UK police said http://bit.ly/2DhFF2V in a statement.
Sala, 28, had been en route from Nantes in western France on Jan. 21 to make his debut for Premier League team Cardiff City when the small aircraft he was travelling in disappeared over the English Channel. The single-engined Piper Malibu aircraft had crashed into the sea.
The wreckage of the plane was found on Sunday following a privately-funded underwater search.
A body was recovered on Wednesday from the wreckage of the plane carrying Sala and pilot David Ibbotson, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.
Sala had agreed to join Welsh club Cardiff for a club-record fee of 15 million pounds from French Ligue 1 club Nantes.
The families of Sala and Ibbotson have been informed about the latest developments and the investigation into the circumstances of the death continues, police said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Grant McCool)