Indonesian rescue teams announced Monday that they had found a body in the waters near where a tourist boat capsized last Friday, and where they are searching for four missing Spaniards, soccer coach Fernando Martín, one of his sons and two other minors who accompanied him on a family trip.
According to the statement from the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), a resident of the island of Serai saw a body floating about 0.5 nautical miles from the point of the possible sinking of the ship where the Spaniards were. A group of rescuers came this morning to collect the remains, and they are in the process of verifying their identities.
Fathur Rahman, the Basarnas officer coordinating the mission, said in a statement that the body was taken by ambulance to the Komodo Regional Hospital in the town of Labuan Bajo, from where part of the operation is being carried out.
The police officer did not provide details on the victim’s nationality, but indicated that it was a woman without specifying her age and noted that the victim’s family had also gone to the center to carry out the identification.
Rescuers, joined by police boats and professional divers, began the fourth day of searching this Monday for the Spaniards, an adult and three minors. The BASARNAS vessel KN Puntadewa joined the operation today, with 27 crew members, including three expert divers, joining the 70 soldiers previously deployed.
The tourist boat, named KM Putri Sakinah, sank in waters near Padar Island – in eastern Indonesia – around 8:30 p.m. Friday (1:30 p.m. GMT), after which a search was activated using boats and diving equipment.
The four missing are Fernando Martín, former footballer and coach of the Valencia CF women’s B team; and three minors: a son of Martín and two of the children (a boy and a girl) of Andrea Ortuño, recently married to Martín.
Ortuño was also traveling on the boat but was rescued, along with another of her daughters, sources close to the family clarified after the initial confusion with their identities.
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