LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — On the eleventh day of a search that has commanded global attention, rescue teams in Komodo National Park recovered scattered debris from the sunken KM Putri Sakinah—including a life jacket and a door—but found no trace of the two children who remain missing.
The discoveries reinforced the grim theory that the boys may still be trapped within the capsized vessel.
The joint search and rescue (SAR) operation, which deployed personnel and technology across a broad search grid, concluded Monday’s sweep without locating the sons of Valencia CF coach Fernando Martín Carreras.
“The search from morning until evening still yielded nothing,” stated Fathur Rahman, Head of the Maumere SAR Office.
The items recovered—a life jacket, a door, and other small fragments—were found near the area where the tourist boat sank on December 26. While the debris confirms the vessel’s breakup under pressure, it provides no clear answers regarding the fate of the two boys, aged 9 and 10.
The ongoing search strategy is heavily influenced by an initial account from the incident. Authorities continue to operate under the working hypothesis that the children may be inside the hull.
“That possibility certainly exists, in the sense that we have not found the victims. Because the initial information was that the victims were in the cabin and it could not be opened. That’s the initial info,” Fathur explained.
With the boys’ father recovered on January 4 and their sister on December 29, the mission’s focus has narrowed with painful clarity.
The operation, now extended until at least January 7, represents a race against time and tide to locate the main wreckage in the deep, current-swept channels of the Padar Strait and provide a definitive answer for their grieving family, who remain in Labuan Bajo awaiting news.
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