Crew members lift a dinghi onto the Abeille Languedoc (File image shows the Abeille Languedoc)
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)An emergency rescue operation is underway after a plane with two people onboard crashed into the English Channel.
The Piper PA-28 took off from Britain on Saturday morning bound for Le Touquet in northern France but crashed into British waters “for an unknown reason”, authorities said.
A spokesman for the French emergency services told the Mirror: “British Coastguard launched an operation supported by French aircraft and boats including the Abeille-Languedoc (Languedoc Bee) tug, which has been chartered by the French Navy.”
The plane was travelling in a group of aircraft all heading to the same destination, the newspaper reported. It had taken off from Wellesbourne Moutnford Airfield, near Stratford-upon-Avon.
Rescuers were continuing to search for the pilot and passenger in the English Channel as of 8.30pm on Saturday evening.
Small aircraft such as the Piper PA-28 are usually equipped with lifejackets in the event of an emergency.
Cardiff City FC Emiliano Sala died when the Piper Malibu aircraft he was travelling in crashed into the sea off the coast of Alderney in January 2019.
