In the chilling audio WhatsApp recording, the 28-year-old sounds exhausted and can’t stop yawning as he tells loved-ones that he is ‘scared’ and they may need to ‘send someone to find me’.
The noise of the engine can be heard in the background as he says: ‘I was over in Nantes sorting things out.
‘I am now aboard a plane that seems like it is falling to pieces. I’m going to Cardiff now, crazy, and tomorrow we get going. I will train with my new team’.
‘If you do not have any more news in an hour and a half, I don’t know if they need to send someone to find me. I am getting scared.’
There are reports that the pilot of the single-engine plane had earlier made four attempts to take off from Nantes in Brittany for the flight to Cardiff.
Mr Sala, who signed for Cardiff City for £15 million last weekend, posted a photo on his Instagram and Twitter accounts on Monday afternoon posing with the rest of the Nantes squad.
He captioned the photo: ‘The final goodbye @FCNantes.’
Guernsey police said that during the search operation floating debris had been found but it is not known if it was from the aircraft.
They added: ‘At this time no trace of the missing aircraft had been found.’
The police said in a statement that the aircraft left Nantes at 7.15pm on Monday for Cardiff and was flying at 5,000ft.
The statement added: ‘The aircraft on passing Guernsey requested descent. Jersey ATC lost contact whilst it was flying at 2,300 feet.’
One of Mr Sala’s former clubs, US Orleans, tweeted: ‘Sad news this morning, all our thoughts go to the relatives of @EmilianoSala1 and to the relatives of the pilot.’
The Channel Islands Air Search aircraft was called out to assist the Guernsey Coastguard’s search efforts at 8.30pm on Monday night.
The Air Search 1 aircraft, combined with the Alderney and St Peter Port lifeboats and two UK Coastguard helicopters, searched areas extending north and north-west of the Casquets reef, a spokeswoman said.
She added: ‘During the search, reports of sightings of red flares were relayed by Guernsey Coastguard near to the island of Burhou, however nothing of significance was found.’
FC Nantes’ next Coupe de France match has been postponed following the disappearance of the plane.
