LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — Under the somber amber hue of a January evening, a vessel bearing a painful answer docked at Marina Labuan Bajo on Tuesday, January 6. The Basarnas search and rescue boat carried the body of a young boy, believed to be one of the two sons of Fernando Martin Carreras, the Valencia CF football coach lost in the KM Putri Sakinah tragedy over a week ago.
The arrival, captured in exclusive footage, was a scene of subdued urgency. One ambulances stood ready on the pier, their silent lights cutting through the twilight. As the Basarnas crew secured the vessel, a team of medical personnel and police officers oversaw a swift, efficient transfer of the victim from the deck to a waiting ambulance. The entire procedure, marked by a solemn respect, lasted mere minutes before the ambulance, escorted by a single police vehicle, departed swiftly for the Labuan Bajo General Hospital for formal identification.
This dignified yet hurried return closes a chapter of the search that began on December 26, yet the maritime saga remains agonizingly incomplete. With this recovery, only one of Coach Carreras’s children—a young boy—remains missing. The coach and his 12-year-old daughter were recovered last week; his wife and their seven-year-old daughter survived the initial sinking.
The grim discovery of the wreck and the victim was first made hours earlier by local fisherman Saiful on the remote shores of Komodo’s Pede Beach, a stark reminder that in this archipelago, local knowledge often guides the hand of formal rescue.
For the expatriate and global traveler community in Bali, to whom Labuan Bajo is a familiar adventure hub, the images from the marina are a poignant counterpoint to the region’s vibrant tourist facade. They tell a story of a paradise holding its breath, where the relentless beauty of the Komodo seas is forever intertwined with its profound, unforgiving power. The search continues, now for one final soul, as a family’s hope narrows to a single, heartbreaking point.
VIDEO: One Son’s Return, One Still Lost: A Somber Evening at Labuan Bajo Marina#SearchAndRescue #Komodo #MaritimeRecovery #HumanStory #PutriSakinah #HeyBaliNews #GlobalAudience pic.twitter.com/FqmYEy4DfR
— Hey Bali (@Heybaliinfo) January 6, 2026
