Updated February 05, 2019 10:33:36

Photo: The wreckage was found on the seabed near the Channel Island of Guernsey. (Air Accidents Investigation Branch (UK))

One body is visible in the seabed wreckage of a plane that went missing carrying Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala and his pilot two weeks ago over the English Channel.

Britain's Air Accident Investigation Branch did not say on Monday whether the underwater camera identified Sala or pilot David Ibbotson, the only two people on board the small aircraft that disappeared from radar over the English Channel on January 21 as it flew from the French city of Nantes to Cardiff in Wales.

Wreckage from the plane was located on Sunday after Sala's family raised funds for a private search by American-born shipwreck-hunting specialist David Mearns because authorities called off the official search.

Although the seabed search on Sunday was conducted in conjunction with British air accident investigators, they have not said whether they plan to raise the wreckage to the surface.

"Let's hope they can rescue it as soon as possible to find out what happened and have some sort of certainty," said Horacio Sala, the footballer's father, outside the family's home in Progreso, about 500 kilometres north-west of Buenos Aires.

"I feel very empty. For a father to lose a son, is not something that you expect."

Sala, 28, was preparing to start a new career in the Premier League at Cardiff after the striker was sold by French topflight club Nantes.

Photo: Tributes have flowed for the former FC Nantes player who was en route to launch a new career with Cardiff City. (AP)

An underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) surveyed the seabed and confirmed an object was the missing Piper Malibu aircraft, with the registration N264DB visible in a picture of the fuselage released on Monday.

"It's imperative that the plane is recovered, and now even more so now we know someone is down there," Mearns said.

Recovering the body without raising the wreckage is complex, according to Ross Taylor of A-to-Sea Solutions, whose survey ship was used in the search.

"ROVs are sometimes able to grab on to items, but whether that would happen I don't know," Taylor said.

"Divers can also get down to that depth but it's a much bigger operation. In 25 metres to 30 metres of water, it would be a lot easier, but in 70 metres, it would be a much bigger operation."

Investigators plan to release an interim report into the accident this month.

Parts of the plane were first believed to have been discovered last week when two seat cushions were found on the French coast.

Photo: At Cardiff, the club Sala joined but never played for, fans have paid tribute to the footballer. (AP/PA: Mark Kerton)

AP

Topics: disasters-and-accidents, air-transport, soccer, sport, united-kingdom

First posted February 04, 2019 23:13:26