Emiliano Sala tributes: Family and friends pay their final respects at wake for Cardiff City striker killed in plane crash

Family and friends of Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala who died in a plane crash in the English Channel have begun to pay their final respects in his native Argentina.

The 28-year-old striker died when the plane he was on board crashed into the sea while it was en route from Nantes to Cardiff on January 21.

Mourners gathered at a wake which was being held at the club he played for as a youngster in his hometown of Progreso.

The funeral will begin later today and Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock was due to attend.

His aunt Mirta Taffarel was tearful as she spoke with reporters at the wake. Sala’s sister Romina also attended to pay her respects.

Some of the footballer’s friends had brought shirts with Number 9 – Sala’s shirt number at Nantes - on the back. The public vigil in the gymnasium at his boyhood club San Martin de Progreso was expected to last for several hours.

Cardiff manager Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo will both attend the funeral in Progreso in the Argentinian province of Santa Fe.

The club posted an emotional tribute on Facebook earlier this week, saying the footballer would be "eternally in our hearts", adding: "We are waiting for you... like the first day you left but this time to stay with us forever. You went and you are an example for everyone."

The plane crashed just days after Sala had signed for Cardiff City in a record transfer deal for the Premier League side.

Sala's body was pulled from the the wreckage on February 7.

At the opening of an inquest, his cause of death was given as "head and trunk injuries".

The pilot of the plane, David Ibbotson, is still missing following the crash, and a fundraising campaign to restart the search for him has raised more than £240,000.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain earlier this week, his daughter Danielle said the family would not give up hope that he would be found.

"If you've got hope then you shouldn't give up," she said. "He wouldn't stop searching for me."

She added: "We still hope and pray and hope everyone keeps my dad in their prayers."

Sala's body was recovered in a privately funded search, which was launched after the initial search was called off three days after the men and their plane went missing.

Although Mr Ibbotson, 59, of Crowle, Lincolnshire, was not located, poor weather conditions meant a "difficult decision was taken to bring the overall operation to a close", the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said.

The aircraft remains underwater off the coast of Guernsey in the English Channel.