Labuan Bajo (Indonesia).- Indonesian search teams began this Friday, when the deadline for the third extension is met, the last day of the operation to try to locate a Spanish minor who disappeared following the shipwreck of a tourist boat on December 26 in Komodo National Park.
“We must try until the last minute,” Eko, one of the rescuers of the deployment, declared to EFE before setting sail early in the morning towards the restricted search area.
Around noon, the device is scheduled to return to port so that the authorities can assess the results before deciding whether to suspend the mission after fifteen days of searching.
The missing child, aged 10, was traveling with a family of six members, of whom three have died and two, a woman and a girl, survived.
The fatalities are Fernando Martín, former footballer and coach of the Valencia CF women’s B team; a son of his; and a daughter of his wife, Andrea Ortuño, who was rescued after the accident along with another of her daughters.
The missing child is the son of the survivor and a former partner. Martín and Ortuño had recently married.
The shipwreck
The tourist boat KM Putri Sakinah sank in the waters of Padar Island – in the Komodo National Park – around 8:30 p.m. local time on December 26 (12:30 GMT), after which an initial search was activated with boats and later the operation was expanded. Four crew members and a guide also rescued them.
The one that is presumed to be the last day of the operation comes after Thursday when the Indonesian Police announced that they are investigating for a possible crime of negligence resulting in death, punishable by up to 5 years in prison, the captain and the head of the ship’s engines of the wrecked vessel.
“Investigators are assessing whether there was an element of negligence in the operation of the ship that caused the maritime accident with fatalities,” said the head of Public Relations of the Regional Police of East Nusa Tenggara province – where Komodo is located -, Henry Novika Chandra.
