Search for pilot called off

RESCUERS called off a search for the 79-year-old pilot of a light aircraft which crashed into the sea, as his wife was released from hospital following her escape from the plane.

The woman, whom police had not named, had been on board the single-engine private plane on Saturday afternoon when it ditched into the English Channel 25 miles off Guernsey.

She was with one other person – thought to be her husband – and a search was begun for him. The plane was due to land on Alderney after returning from the UK’s south coast.

A Russian merchant vessel found the woman on a liferaft and winched her to safety before a helicopter took her to hospital.

A spokesman for Guernsey Police said: “There is not much to update other than to say the lady who was rescued has been released from hospital and has gone home with her daughter.”