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Reports from Argentina have it that Horacio Sala, father of late Emiliano Sala, has died of a heart attack, just three months after his son died in a plane crash.
The mayor of Progreso, Horacio’s home town in Argentina, while confirming the incident said the 58-year-old grieving man failed to come to terms with his son’s plane crash death.
“He could never overcome what happened to Emiliano,” Mayor Julio Muller said. “When the body was found he thought the case would be closed – but all the news that came to light about the pilot was very difficult.”
Emiliano, 28, died in a plane crash on January 21 this year when his light aircraft crashed en route from Nantes to Cardiff. The striker had just completed his club-record £15million transfer from French side, Nantes to English Premier League side, Cardiff City.
The small plane was found on the bottom of the ocean north of Guernsey, on Wednesday, February 6 – more than two weeks after it disappeared.
At the time, Sala’s dad expressed his heartbreak after wreckage of the plane carrying his son was found in the English Channel.
Horacio said the discovery was a “nightmare”, saying: “I cannot believe it. This is a dream. A bad dream. I am desperate.
“I communicated with them every day, but since I do not have WhatsApp it’s hard to call them or call me.
“They told me that the days passed and there was no news of Emiliano or the plane.”