After a 15-day operation, Indonesian authorities have concluded the search for the final victim of the Putri Sakinah shipwreck, leaving a family and a community without closure.
LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — The official search for the missing son of Spanish football coach Martin Carreras Fernando has ended without success. On Friday, January 9, 2026, search and rescue teams returned to Labuan Bajo’s Marina Port, concluding a 15-day operation triggered by the sinking of the tourist vessel KM Putri Sakinah in Komodo National Park.
The boy was the only victim not recovered from the December 26 maritime disaster. The final half-day of searching yielded no results, marking a somber and inconclusive end to an operation that had gripped the local community and drawn international attention.
A Phased End to a Prolonged Search
The combined Search and Rescue (SAR) operation, coordinated by the national agency Basarnas, officially concluded at 12:00 PM local time. Fathur Rahman, head of the Maumere Basarnas office and the mission coordinator, had confirmed the previous evening that the search would close at midday Friday.
“The final search results are negative,” a participant in the search efforts stated at the port, awaiting a formal announcement from Basarnas.
The tragedy claimed the lives of Fernando and three of his children during a nighttime voyage in the Padar Island Strait. Fernando’s body was recovered on January 4, his 12-year-old daughter on December 29, both found in waters near Rinca and Serai Islands. Another son, aged 10, was located on January 6 inside the wreck of the Putri Sakinah, which had drifted over 14 kilometers before running aground on Komodo Island’s Pede Beach. Fernando’s wife and youngest child survived.
A Community’s Dual Crisis
The conclusion of the search closes one painful chapter for the Fernando family, but it also concludes a period of profound disruption for Labuan Bajo. The shipwreck and the ensuing SAR mission occurred alongside a complete, two-week suspension of all tourist sailings—first due to severe weather, then to facilitate the search—strangling the local tourism economy.
The incident ignited fierce public protests in Labuan Bajo, with demonstrators alleging corruption and mismanagement within the local port authority (KSOP) and demanding systemic reforms. In a direct response to the tragedy, authorities this week instituted a new ban on all nighttime sailing for tourist vessels in Komodo National Park waters.
An Unresolved Absence
For the global community, particularly travelers and expatriates across Indonesia who follow regional news, the Putri Sakinah disaster has served as a stark case study. It highlights the critical importance of maritime safety protocols, regulatory oversight, and the difficult balance between adventure tourism and operational risk in environmentally challenging destinations.
The end of the search leaves an unresolved absence at the heart of this tragedy. As the tourism fleet in Labuan Bajo slowly restarts under new regulations, the memory of the sinking and the missing child will linger—a poignant reminder of the human cost when safety systems fail, and a quiet call for the lasting reforms that many in the community continue to demand.
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