Football: Father of tragic Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala dies

The Match Day Programme with a Daffodil as a tribute to Emiliano Sala. Photo / Getty

The father of Emiliano Sala has died just three months after the Argentinian footballer was killed in a plane crash in the English Channel.

Horacio Sala reportedly died at his home in Progresso on Friday at the age of 58, according to local media.

Progresso mayor Julio Muller spoke to local radio station La Red about Horacio's death, reporting that he had died of a heart attack.

"The partner of Horacio called me at five in the morning. The doctors were already there. When he left his home, he had already died," Muller said.

Horacio Sala father of Emiliano cries after a vigil at Sala's boyhood club San Martin de Progreso. Photo / Getty

"He could never get over Emi's death."

Cardiff City released a statement which read: "The Club offers our deepest condolences to the friends and family of Horacio Sala. They are very much in the thoughts of us all at this difficult time."

Emiliano, who had signed for Cardiff City, disappeared with the pilot of the Piper Malibu on January 21 before his body was later found and recovered in the waters north of Guernsey.

Pilot David Ibbotson, 59, is still missing.

Britain's Air Accident Investigation Branch released its initial findings a month after the United States-registered single-engine aircraft crashed, revealing that the pilot and plane were not licensed by authorities for commercial flights.