The 12-year-old daughter of a Valencia CF football coach has been found dead, Indonesian rescue authorities confirmed on Monday, days after the family's tourist boat capsized in a tragic maritime accident.
Search Operation Recovers Child's Body
The girl's remains were discovered by a local resident on Serai Island, approximately half a mile from the suspected sinking site in the Padar Island Strait. A rescue raft was immediately deployed to recover the body, with a team member later confirming to Spanish news agency EFE that it was the missing child.
The major search operation, involving Indonesia's national search and rescue agency (Basarnas), had been underway since the boat capsized on Friday during a family trip. The vessel was carrying 11 people in total when it suffered engine failure in bad weather near the popular resort town of Labuan Bajo.
Father and Siblings Still Missing
The child was travelling with her father, Valencia coach Fernando Martin Carreras, and her siblings when the disaster struck. Carreras and two of his sons remain missing and are feared to have drowned. The grim discovery confirms the fate of one of the four family members lost.
Fathur Rahman, head of the local search and rescue agency, stated that efforts to find Martin and his two sons are ongoing despite challenging conditions of strong currents and high waves. Operations are set to continue into Tuesday.
Survivors and Wider Safety Concerns
Martin's wife and one daughter survived the capsizing, along with four crew members and a tour guide. In response to the incident, Indonesia's tourism ministry imposed a temporary ban on tour boats sailing in the waters around Labuan Bajo and the Komodo Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage site famed for its Komodo dragons.
This tragedy highlights recurring safety issues in Indonesian maritime transport. The vast archipelago of over 17,000 islands relies heavily on boats and ferries, where accidents are frequently linked to adverse weather and sometimes lax safety standards.
In a separate incident underscoring these risks, a speedboat carrying 21 people capsized near Indonesia's Papua province on Monday, leaving 17 missing and one dead.
Valencia CF released a statement expressing profound sorrow, confirming that their coach and three of his children had died "in the tragic boat accident in Indonesia, as confirmed by local authorities."
