A body recovered from a plane which crashed in the English Channel has been formally identified as professional footballer Emiliano Sala, Dorset Police said.
Dorset Police said the families of Sala and the pilot David Ibbotson have been informed.
In a statement on Thursday night police said they "will continue to be supported by specially-trained family liaison officers.
"Our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.
"HM Coroner will continue to investigate the circumstances of this death supported by Dorset Police."
It came after investigators removed the body from the Piper Malibu N264DB on Wednesday.
The body had been brought to Portland, Dorset, by the Geo Ocean III ship, and taken on a stretcher to an ambulance, before being transferred to the coroner.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said earlier yesterday that it had decided to attempt recovery operations after using a remotely operated vessel (ROV) to examine the accident site off the coast of Guernsey.
“In challenging conditions, the AAIB and its specialist contractors successfully recovered the body previously seen amidst the wreckage,” it said.
“The operation was carried out in as dignified a way as possible and the families were kept informed of progress.
“Unfortunately, attempts to recover the aircraft wreckage were unsuccessful before poor weather conditions forced us to return the ROV to the ship.
“The weather forecast is poor for the foreseeable future and so the difficult decision was taken to bring the overall operation to a close.”
The AAIB added: “Although it was not possible to recover the aircraft, the extensive video record captured by the ROV is expected to provide valuable evidence for our safety investigation.”
The aircraft remains 67 metres underwater 21 miles off the coast of Guernsey in the Channel.
The remains of the plane were discovered on Sunday evening. It had disappeared on January 21 as it travelled from Nantes in France to Cardiff.
The AAIB said previously that the work of the ROVs has been hampered by the difficult tidal conditions around the Channel Islands.
The plane had requested to descend before it lost contact with Jersey air traffic control.
An official search operation was called off on January 24 after Guernsey’s harbour master David Barker said the chances of survival following such a
long period were “extremely remote”.
The remains of the aircraft were tracked down by a team co-ordinated by ocean scientist David Mearns, who has located some of the most elusive wrecks in the world.
Mr Mearns and his team located the aircraft within two hours of starting their search.
He said the discovery had been so quick because the team had been looking for a static object rather than in a dynamic environment searching for survivors.
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