LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia – The international search for missing Valencia CF coach Fernando Martin Carreras entered a new, technologically aided phase on New Year’s Day, as authorities revealed that Interpol had detected the intermittent signal of his mobile phone moving through the waters of Komodo National Park.
The development, announced Thursday, has refocused the seventh and potentially final day of the official search operation on the shifting coordinates traced to the device. Mr. Carreras and his two young sons remain missing after the pinisi schooner Putri Sakinah sank near Padar Island on the night of December 26.
Budi Widjaja, chairman of the local Tourism and Water Sports Entrepreneurs Association (Gahawisri) and a liaison for the Spanish family, confirmed the intelligence from the global police organization. “Interpol captured the coordinate points of the victim’s cell phone signal,” he stated at the SAR operations post in Labuan Bajo Marina.
According to Mr. Widjaja, the signal was first detected in waters south of the Padar Island strait before later appearing north of Batu Tiga Island. This movement has led search coordinators to a prevailing theory: the phone is likely inside the sunken vessel, which itself may be shifting position on the seabed due to strong underwater currents.
“There is a possibility the phone is inside the ship and is moving with the current,” Mr. Widjaja explained.
In response, search teams have deployed advanced sonar equipment to pinpoint the source. The operation now utilizes a newly arrived multibeam sonar unit from a private company in Jakarta, in addition to two sonar systems provided by the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Regional Police. This technology can scan and map the seafloor, detecting objects hundreds of meters away, and is critical for locating a vessel potentially caught in a dynamic underwater environment.
The Putri Sakinah was carrying 11 people when it foundered. The coach’s wife and youngest child were rescued, while the body of their 12-year-old daughter was recovered earlier this week. The search for Mr. Carreras and his sons has mobilized international resources, with the Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia formally requesting an extension of the operation beyond its standard seven-day mandate.
That legal deadline fell on Thursday, January 1. Authorities are now conducting a mandatory evaluation to determine if the operation, buoyed by the new electronic leads, will be extended for a further three days—a decision that hangs on the balance of procedural protocol and the fragile hope provided by a fading phone signal in the deep.
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