Emiliano Sala’s ex-girlfriend believes he’s ALIVE and ‘living on an island’ as he ‘can’t just disappear’ in Channel plane mystery
The £15million player's ex girlfriend blamed his disappearance on a 'series of irresponsibilities' in an interview with Argentinian media
THE ex-girlfriend of Cardiff signing Emiliano Sala has claimed the player could be still alive on an island.
Berenice Schkair, 26, also blamed a "series of irresponsibilities" after Sala, 28, and pilot David Ibbotson, 59, disappeared when their plane crashed near the Channel Islands last Monday, January 21.
While the search for the £15million forward and pilot was called off on Thursday, it later resumed over the weekend after Lionel Messi and other players funded a new mission.
Now ex-girlfriend Schkair told Argentine media outlet Infobae she believes he is still alive and shed light on her previous "football mafia" comments.
She said: "I have hope he is going to turn up, that's he's alive. Where? On an island. I feel, as does his family, that he cannot have disappeared."
Asked about her social media posts calling for "an investigation into the football mafia", which have since been deleted, the 26-year-old said: "It was an impulse.
"I sensed there was something strange, dark. But I don't have information about anything.
"The only thing I felt was if a plane disappears off the face of the Earth, two people disappear and nobody wants to search for them and everything stays covered then it is something strange."
'SERIES OF IRRESPONSIBILITIES'
The Argentine model was asked if she thought her lover's disappearance was an accident and she said: "I want to think it was an accident but then I feel that there was a series of irresponsibilities which brought about this horror.
"The irresponsibility is a little bit on everyone's part. Why was the pilot there if he didn't have the correct licence?
"Why did the plane take off anyway despite Emi saying it was bad? Why did they send a plane in bad condition?
"Why did they take off in that weather? Why did the club not look after him if they had bought a player of that level?"
And when asked what she would do if Sala does not show up, she said: "Find the person responsible, they need to carry out an investigation and not leave everything covered up.
"If something that terrible happens, the family are going to have to fully investigate and knock on a lot of doors.
"But if Emi turns up the only thing that is going to matter to me is that he fulfils his dream and plays football again."
The model's claims come after The Sun exclusively revealed pilot Dave Ibbotson once crashed a plane on the runway after failing to lower his landing gear.
He wrote off a Piper Cherokee with the belly flop on an exercise simulating an engine failure in 1995.
An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report does not name David — but sources have confirmed it was him.
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He had previously admitted he was a "bit rusty" with the instrument landing system before the Piper Malibu disappeared from radar screens eight days ago while taking the star from his old club Nantes to Cardiff.
He held a basic private pilot's licence and had 246 hours of flying experience when he took the Cherokee up at Hibaldstow Airfield on May 9 24 years ago.
The Department for Transport, which runs the AAIB, refused to comment on individuals and Skydive Hibaldstow did not respond to calls.
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