Plane missing over English Channel, media says Cardiff City's Sala on board

French maritime authorities said on Tuesday that a light aircraft lost radar contact over the English channel late on Monday, but could not confirm whether Cardiff City soccer player Emiliano Sala was on board. British and French media reported that the former Nantes striker, who signed for the Welsh club this week in a deal worth about 17 million euros, was on the plane.

The British coastguard said in a statement that it was assisting Guernsey Coastguard with a search for a light aircraft missing off Alderney in the Channel Islands, but that the plane had not yet been found. Guernsey police said the missing aircraft had been flying from Nantes to Cardiff with 2 people on board.

(Reporting by Julie Carriat in Paris and Michael Holden in London; writing by John Irish; Editing by Richard Lough)