Sala's flight recreated for his family as they're shown his last known movements

A chartered plane recreated the last known movements of the missing aircraft that was carrying Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala for the benefit of his family.

Marine scientist David Mearns told reporters that relatives and friends of the Argentinian striker hired the private plane on Monday, a week after the Piper PA-46 Malibu disappeared over the English Channel.

The group, including the 28-year-old footballer's mother Mercedes and sister Romina, travelled on a twin-engine Dornier 228-212 plane, which flew from Guernsey Airport and circled the island of Alderney.

'What they did was recreate as closely as possible the route of Emiliano Sala's plane at 5,000ft descending to 2,200ft,' Mr Mearns said.

'They went over the location of the last radar contact, they did a cloverleaf pattern so they could see what that was like then they actually recreated the type of pattern that the search and rescue aircraft would have created.

'That essentially has been the purpose of the family's visit to the island, to come here and understand what they're being told in terms of the search and rescue effort, and they certainly have a better appreciation for that today.'

In a statement, the Guernsey airline Aurigny said: 'Aurigny can confirm that we operated a commercial scenic flight service this morning out of Guernsey which flew to the west of Alderney and around Alderney before returning to Guernsey.'