The fifth day of searching for three Spaniards missing in Indonesia begins

Labuan Bajo.- The search operation trying to locate three missing Spaniards in Indonesia, an adult and two minors, after the sinking last Friday of a tourist boat began its fifth day this Tuesday, after the body of a Spanish minor was recovered yesterday. The rescue teams’ boats set sail with the first light of the day, including the KN Puntadewa belonging to the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), from the port of Labuan Bajo, on the island of Flores, and from where part of the mission is coordinated. The families of the missing went to the port to thank the team one by one for their efforts, which today includes rescuers from BASARNAS, police officers and at least a dozen volunteer professional divers.

“We must keep searching”

“We must keep searching, we have to go home together,” Andrea Ortuño, one of the survivors of the shipwreck and mother of the deceased victim found the day before, told EFE. The girl was found on Monday by a local fisherman, who alerted the authorities, 0.5 nautical miles from the place where the tourist ship is suspected to have sunk, near Padar Island.

Locating the ship’s wreckage is one of the objectives of the operation, as rescuers estimate that the bodies of the missing could be trapped inside.

The shipwreck of the Spanish in Indonesia

To do this, the mission has an underwater robot from the Police and sonar equipment. Although it faces harsh weather conditions and strong sea currents, along with the great depth of the area. The three Spaniards who remain missing are Fernando Martín, former footballer and coach of the Valencia CF women’s B team; and two minors: a son of Martín and a son of Ortuño. Both adults recently got married. In the accident, which occurred on the night of last Friday, a daughter of Ortuño also survived; along with four members of the ship’s crew and a tour guide, all of Indonesian nationality.