Footballer Emiliano Sala Sent Audio Message From Plane
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. In his final moments on board to a flight, it seems the football star, Emiliano Sala was calling friends and family about his fears the plane would crash. Cardiff City's new star recruit and the pilot were flying from France on Monday when their single-engine Piper Malibu disappeared over the English Channel. We have more details now from Patrick Snell.</s>PATRICK SNELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, the search continues for the South American footballer Emiliano Sala who'd recently signed for the English Premier League Club Cardiff City. Now, the Argentine who'd just been transferred by French Ligue side Nantes to the Wales capital for just under a reported $20 million was traveling along with the plane's pilot from western France when their light aircraft went missing over the English Channel on Monday night. Now, audio has emerged of Sala on board the flight speaking to his friends in a WhatsApp voice message. We don't know when he made the call. Though in it, he appears to be making sarcastic jokes about the condition of the plane.</s>EMILIANO SALA, FORWARD, CARDIFF CITY FOOTBALL CLUB (via telephone): Hello brothers, how are you doing crazy people? Brothers, I'm so tired, I was here in Nantes doing things, things, things, and things. And they don't end -- they don't end -- they don't end -- they don't end. So, guys, I'm on the plane and it looks like it's going to fall down in pieces. And I'm on my way to Cardiff tomorrow, yes. We start in the afternoon, we start training guys with the new team. Let's see what happens. So, how are you doing guys? All OK? If in an hour and a half you don't have news from me, I don't know if they would send someone to look for me because they won't find me, but you will know. Dude, I'm so scared.</s>SNELL: It's now being well over two days since the plane and those on board went missing. And the authorities say that what began as a search and rescue operation is now a recovery mission. On Wednesday, efforts to find the aircraft were suspended, saying the decision on whether to resume the search would be made early on Thursday. Patrick Snell, CNN, Atlanta.</s>VAUSE: Well, the Democratic Republic of Congo is about to mark its first democratic transfer of power in almost 60 years. Despite accusations of fraud in December's voting, Felix Tshisekedi was certified by the National Constitution Court and is set to be sworn in as the new president. Outgoing President Joseph Kabila, who has been in power since 2001, says he is stepping down without regret. CNN's David McKenzie, live this hour from Johannesburg, said -- So, David if there was this, at least, one call from a disgruntled loser in the election basically saying that the vote was rigged, get out there and protest, and mostly went unheeded. Which I guess is a sign that this will be a peaceful transfer of power. I think we're having a few problems there with David's audio. I can see his -- here we go.</s>DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- South Africa.</s>VAUSE: Start again from the top, David, some audio issues.</s>MCKENZIE: Sorry about that, John. So, base -- that's all right. So, the issues with this election have been running for more than two years. I think there's a sign -- a sigh of relief within this region that this might be a peaceful transfer of power, John. And in the last few days, you've seen the shift from serious questions being asked from the African Union and others about the election results. And now, this is all sort of getting a bit quieter. And the latest was the U.S. on Monday saying that this, at least, tentatively they are happy with this announcement from the Supreme Court that certified the results over the weekend. As you say, there hasn't been any major protests on the streets of Kinshasa and elsewhere. The losing opposition candidate Martin Fayulu has said that he is the president of the country. But it appears in the coming hours that's just going to be shown to be just, of course, not the case. John?</s>VAUSE: OK, David. I'm glad we got there in the end. If you're taking a problems but worth getting off on. Thank you. OK, we'll take a short break. When we come back, a lot more news right here on CNN.