French star forward Kylian Mbappe has donated to fund for the search operation of pilot David Ibbotson, whose plane disappeared along with footballer Cardiff City Emiliano Sala in the English Channel on January 21, 2019. According to a report from BBC, the PSG star has donated £27,000 to a fundraising appeal set up by Ibbotson’s family, under the name Elie Lottin.
Ibbotson, from Crowle, Lincolnshire, was on his way to Nantes to Cardiff along with Sala when their plane crashed near Guernsey. The wreckage of the plane, along with Sala’s body was discovered last week, but the pilot’s body is yet to be discovered.
Apart from Mbappe, former England skipper Gary Lineker has also donated £1,000. The donation page, by Sunday evening, had received over 7,000 donations, raising the total to over £130,000 of the page’s £300,000 target.
The appeal for the body’s search was initiated by Ibbotson’s family members after the authorities stopped the search on January 24, 2019. Sala’s body was found after an appeal launched by his agent raised £324,000 (371,000 euros) for a private search.
Ibbotson’s family had launched their own appeal for a private search, in which they wrote: “We are trying to come to terms with the tragedy and the loss of two incredible men. To be told the search has now been called off for the foreseeable future has only made this tragic time more difficult.”
“We can not bear the thought of him being alone, we need him home so that we are able to lay him to rest,” the appeal added.
