The plane carrying Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala which went missing earlier this week may never be found, it has been reported.

The 28-year-old was en route from his former club Nantes to the Welsh capital on Monday when his plane disappeared off radar near the Channel Islands.

An immediate search and rescue operation was launched in order to find the striker, who had completed his transfer to the Premier League outfit just days earlier, but the search was called off yesterday after the chances of survival were deemed "extremely remote".

According to The Sun, there are now concerns that the plane carrying Sala and pilot Dave Ibbotson will never be located if it crashed into an underwater valley known as 'Hurd Deep', which goes 600ft below surface and was used as a dumping ground for radioactive materials until the 1970s.

Hurd Deep is also home to the Royal Navy submarine HMS Affray, which sank in 1951 and has never been recovered.

Sala's sister Romina yesterday pleaded with authorities to resume the search for her brother.