By Noel Caballero
Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, Jan 6 (EFE).- Indonesian rescue teams on Tuesday recovered a third body and located the wreckage of the boat that sank with a Spanish family in waters of Komodo National Park, as the search entered its penultimate day with two children still missing.
The search has focused since Monday on locating the two remaining missing children aged nine and ten.
Forensic teams are examining the body, which the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) believes may belong to one of the two minors, according to an official statement.
The body was found around 2:30 pm after fishermen reported spotting it in the northern area of Rinca Island, approximately 7.48 nautical miles (about 14 km ) from the vessel’s last known position before it sank.
“The victim was found together with the ship’s hull,” Fathur Rahman, a BASARNAS official and head of the rescue mission, told a press conference in Labuan Bajo, where part of the search operation is being coordinated.
Around three and a half hours later, rescue teams reached the port of Labuan Bajo, from where the body was transferred to a regional hospital for identification.
Divers deployed to the site of the discovery confirmed that the wreckage belonged to the KM Putri Sakinah, the tourist vessel on which six Spaniards, two adults and four minors, were travelling when it sank near Padar Island around 8:30 pm on Dec. 26.
The divers were unable to locate the last missing person.
Two passengers, a woman and a minor, were rescued shortly after the accident, while four others, an adult and three minors, were reported missing.
Rescuers have recovered the bodies of two of the missing Spaniards in recent days: that of a minor on Dec. 29 and that of an adult man on Sunday.
Those bodies were found in a different area from Tuesday’s discovery, north of Serai Island, west of Rinca, between 0.5 and 1.13 nautical miles (around one to two kilometers) from the sinking site.
Search personnel told EFE that strong marine currents in the area may have dragged the boat from its original position.
The confirmed fatalities are Fernando Martín, a former footballer and coach of Valencia CF’s women’s B team, and one of the daughters of his wife, Andrea Ortuño.
Ortuño survived the accident along with another of her daughters. Still missing are Martín’s son and another son of Ortuño, aged nine and ten.
“We want to find them all. We have to be optimistic,” Andy, a BASARNAS rescuer, told EFE after the search ended on the 12th day of the operation.
Following the recovery of Martín’s body on Sunday, authorities extended the search until Wednesday evening, marking the second extension beyond the minimum seven-day period required by law.
After Wednesday’s session, officials are expected to assess the results and decide whether to suspend or extend the operation for a third time.
Authorities initially attributed the sinking to engine failure, but later told EFE that it may have been caused by an “unusual and unpredictable” marine phenomenon involving three large waves that capsized the vessel within seconds, leaving no time to evacuate passengers.
Police opened an investigation last week to determine whether any negligence by the crew contributed to the accident. EFE
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