LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — Under a stark morning sun, a somber silence fell over Marina Labuan Bajo on Sunday. The quiet chug of the Basarnas vessel KN Puntadewa broke the stillness as it slowly approached the pier, completing a final, tragic voyage. On board was the body of Fernando Martín Carreras, the Valencia CF coach, recovered hours earlier from the waters of Komodo National Park.
Video from the scene captures the heavy, meticulous transfer that followed. As the ship docked, a waiting ambulance stood with its doors open. SAR personnel, moving with practiced care and profound respect, carefully carried the stretcher bearing the coach’s remains off the vessel. The body, which the family had identified in part by the red trousers he wore, was secured inside the ambulance for the short journey to Komodo Labuan Bajo General Hospital for formal forensic identification.
This moment at the dock marked the culmination of a desperate ten-day international search that had mobilized over 150 personnel, sonar equipment, and drones. It was the same dock where, just days earlier, the coach’s wife had stood bowing in hope to departing rescue teams. Now, it was the site of her husband’s return.
The police have since officially confirmed the identity, with the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Police spokesperson stating the forensic process followed international Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) protocols. While this confirmation provides one agonizing answer, the search continues with unrelenting focus on finding the couple’s two young sons, who remain missing.
The scene—a ship’s return, a waiting ambulance, a body transferred—was a silent testament to the immense effort and the profound loss at the heart of the KM Putri Sakinah tragedy. It closed one chapter of uncertainty, even as another, more painful search for two children presses on.
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