LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia – In a move that underscores a critical infrastructural shortfall in Indonesia’s premier marine tourism hub, the body of a 12-year-old Spanish girl, a victim of the Putri Sakinah schooner disaster, was transferred from Labuan Bajo to Bali on Wednesday.
The girl, whose father is missing Valencia CF women’s football coach Martin Carreras Fernando, was flown aboard a Batik Air flight departing Komodo International Airport at approximately 1:40 PM local time. Her mother, a survivor of the sinking, accompanied the remains.
The decision for the transfer was not one of mere logistics but of stark necessity, according to Budi Widjaja, chairman of the local Tourism and Water Sports Entrepreneurs Association (Gahawisri), who is acting as a liaison for the grieving family.
“The mortuary freezer in Labuan Bajo is only available at Komodo Regional General Hospital (RSUD Komodo), and its capacity is severely limited—only enough for two bodies,” Mr. Widjaja explained. He noted that the two other hospitals in this designated “super-priority” tourism destination lack such facilities entirely.
“The family moved the child’s body to Bali so that the freezer at RSUD Komodo would be empty and available,” he stated. The vacated space is now on standby, a grim preparation for the potential recovery of the three remaining missing persons: Coach Carreras and his two young sons.
The tragic chain of events began on the night of Friday, December 26, when the traditional wooden pinisi vessel Putri Sakinah sank in the straits near Padar Island within Komodo National Park. Of the 11 people on board—the Spanish family of six, four crew members, and one guide—seven were rescued, including the coach’s wife and one child. Search and Rescue (SAR) teams have so far recovered only one body, that of the 12-year-old girl. The intensive search for her father and brothers continues into its sixth day.
This somber airlift highlights a poignant and practical crisis. As international attention remains fixed on the dramatic search efforts in the park’s famed waters, a quieter, more systemic issue has been revealed. Labuan Bajo, the bustling gateway to the Komodo dragons and a magnet for high-end liveaboard tourism, lacks the basic emergency medical infrastructure expected of a world-class destination.
For the global community in Bali—a neighboring island that also relies on its reputation for tourism safety and services—the incident serves as a sobering reminder of the varied levels of development and preparedness across the Indonesian archipelago, even within its most promoted locations.
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