LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — The video begins without spectacle. No raised voices, no accusations. Just a man standing in the humid night air of Labuan Bajo, speaking carefully, as if each word must travel a long distance before it can land.
Recorded late on January 7, 2026, the clip captures a moment of quiet urgency on what was meant to be the final day of the search for victims of the KM Putri Sakinah sinking. The man speaking is not the child’s father — he cannot be. The father, a football coach affiliated with Valencia CF, was among those who perished at sea, and his body has already been recovered.
Instead, the voice belongs to a family representative, believed to be the coach’s brother or close relative — an uncle to the 9-year-old boy who remains missing.
He opens not with a request, but with gratitude.
He thanks Basarnas, the Indonesian military, police, local and national authorities, and residents of Labuan Bajo. He acknowledges the extraordinary scale of the operation: the repeated aerial flights, the damaged equipment, the teams that worked through exhaustion.
“We know what you have done here is beyond normal,” he says. “We see that you do not rest. We see that you do not sleep.”
By that night, the sea had already returned three of the four victims. The coach himself. One daughter. One son. Only the youngest boy remained unaccounted for.
It is at this point that the man’s composure wavers, not into anger, but into something more restrained — a plea shaped by shared humanity rather than entitlement.
“I ask for one last help,” he says. “Any father or mother knows what it means to have a child lost at sea. We know this is very complicated. But we need a little more.”
The request is simple: more time.
Not a demand, not a challenge to protocol. Just an appeal for an extension — one or two more days — so the family might bring their last child home and reunite the siblings, even if only in death.
“Please,” he repeats softly. “Just a little more.”
Within hours, Basarnas announced a two-day extension, pushing the operation to January 9, or day 15. The decision followed earlier humanitarian considerations and requests from the family, as well as diplomatic communication from Spain. But the timing of the announcement, so close to the video’s circulation, gave the moment added weight.
On Thursday morning, rescue boats returned to the waters of Komodo National Park, navigating strong currents and worsening weather. Probability had narrowed. Purpose had not.
For viewers in Bali and abroad, the video offers a rare glimpse into how decisions at sea are sometimes made. Not by charts or deadlines alone, but by a voice that refuses to let a calendar close a family’s search.
The man ends as he began — with thanks.
“We are all very tired,” he says. “We see that you are very tired too.”
The video cuts. No applause follows. But the boats sail again.
#heybalinews
A family representative makes a quiet, final plea on day 13 of the Komodo search, asking for more time to find the last missing 9-year-old boy from the KM Putri Sakinah tragedy.https://t.co/al5ppKTwYz#KM_PutriSakinah #KomodoSearch #Basarnas #HumanityFirst #SearchAndRescue pic.twitter.com/fPoQ3SGp68
— Hey Bali (@Heybaliinfo) January 8, 2026
