UK agrees to extend search for missing footballer

The British government has ordered an underwater search for an aircraft that vanished from the radar last week near the Channel Islands while carrying Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala to the UK, the Argentine Embassy in London said Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that his government has agreed to the Argentine government's request to extend the search for the missing aircraft in which Sala and pilot David Ibbotson were traveling from Nantes to Cardiff, the embassy said in a statement.

In a letter addressed to his Argentine counterpart Jorge Faurie, Hunt said as soon as the weather allows, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch will launch the underwater search.

News of the search followed reports that two seat cushions believed to be from the missing airplane had washed up on a beach in northern France about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from where the plane was last spotted on radar last week.