LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — The sea has given back three, but holds one still. On Wednesday morning, under a sky that has witnessed nearly two weeks of hope and grief, the search for the last child of Valencia CF coach Martin Carreras Fernando resumed in the waters of Komodo National Park. All efforts are now narrowed to a single point of focus: a nine-year-old boy known as M.
The joint Search and Rescue (SAR) task force returned to the waters off Pede Beach on Komodo Island, where the wreck of the KM Putri Sakinah was discovered on Tuesday. That discovery led to the recovery of the boy’s ten-year-old brother, T., whose identity was confirmed through dental records. With the bodies of Coach Fernando and his twelve-year-old daughter recovered earlier, young M. remains the only missing person from the December 26 sinking.
“The search is continuing as planned,” said SAR Mission Coordinator Fathur Rahman of Basarnas Maumere, framing the thirteenth day of the operation with determined routine.
But routine now carries the weight of finality. The mission’s parameters have shifted from a broad sweep of the Padar Strait to a precise, two-pronged approach. “In addition to further diving operations on the hull of the ship that has been found,” Fathur explained, “the SAR team will also expand the search area by combing regions that have not yet been reached.”
This strategy acknowledges a harsh maritime lesson written across 7.48 nautical miles. The wreck, and the ten-year-old found within it, were discovered far from the initial sinking site, carried by the powerful currents that pulse through this UNESCO-protected archipelago. The earlier recoveries of Fernando and his daughter were also found adrift, near Serai and Rinca islands, confirming the sea’s role as both a keeper and a disperser of secrets.
For the international community watching from Bali and beyond, the operation has transitioned from a urgent rescue to a solemn, painstaking recovery. The identification of the ten-year-old through his teeth—a method chosen when fingerprints were no longer an option—has added a layer of intimate, forensic detail to the public narrative, a reminder of the personal stories behind the headlines.
Each day that passes now is measured against the fading hope of a different outcome. The search teams scour a seascape of profound beauty and hidden power, where turquoise waters conceal depths that have claimed a family’s holiday voyage. The resorts of Labuan Bajo, usually echoing with the plans of divers and tourists, now watch the comings and goings of SAR vessels with a shared, quiet gravity.
As the boats head out once more, the mission is no longer about finding *a* child, but about finding this child—the final piece of a tragic puzzle. The Komodo sea, for all its majestic lure, holds one last answer that a family, and a world of sympathetic onlookers, awaits.
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