A body has been "successfully recovered" from the wreckage of the plane that was carrying footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson, British investigators say.
Remotely operated vehicles in "challenging conditions" were used to pull the body out of the water "in as dignified a way as possible", according to the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).
The body is to be passed into the care of a coroner in Dorset, an AAIB spokesman said.
It has not been confirmed whether the body is that of Mr Sala or Mr Ibbotson.
Poor weather conditions stopped efforts to recover the aircraft, which remains 67 metres underwater, 21 miles off the coast of Guernsey in the English Channel.
An AAIB spokesman said bad weather was forecast "for the foreseeable future and so the difficult decision was taken to bring the overall operation to a close".
The investigators will publish their interim report within a month and footage captured of the wreckage is expected to provide "valuable evidence", it added.
Wreaths and flowers in memory of Emiliano Sala in front of the Beaujoire Stadium in Nantes, France | Image: NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images
The plane was discovered on Sunday by marine recovery specialists who were hired thanks to a crowdfunding appeal, launched after the official search was called off.
Sala had signed for Cardiff City from French club Nantes in a deal two days before the plane disappeared on January 21st.
Sources have said Nantes have now started legal action against Cardiff, asking for the first payment of the transfer fee, which is understood to be more than €5.6m (stg£5m).
Cardiff have not yet paid any of the fee, a record for the club, for the Argentinian striker and privately believe questions first need answering about the ownership of the Piper Malibu aircraft and other issues.
The plane, which was travelling to Cardiff from Nantes, had requested to descend before it lost contact with Jersey air traffic control.
An official search operation was called off on January 24th after Guernsey's harbour master David Barker said the chances of survival following such a long period were "extremely remote".
