LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — On the tenth day, against what seemed to be impossible odds, the sea yielded an answer. The recovery of Valencia CF coach Fernando Martín Carreras from the waters of Komodo National Park on Sunday delivered a profound, if heartbreaking, sense of hope to his grieving family, who had begun to believe such a discovery was beyond reach.
“The family expressed that they thought it was impossible for the victim to be found on the tenth day,” revealed Fathur Rahman, Head of the Maumere Search and Rescue Office, after meeting with the coach’s relatives. “They appreciate the SAR team because, with all their effort, they found the victim.”
This admission underscores the emotional toll of a search that has stretched hope to its breaking point. The family’s gratitude was directed entirely at the multinational rescue effort. “There was no special request from the family, none. The point is, the family conveyed thanks for the extraordinary work of Indonesia’s joint SAR team,” Fathur added.
The discovery of the 44-year-old coach, found floating near Rinca Island, has critically altered the trajectory of the mission. It has replaced a creeping dread of perpetual uncertainty with the painful clarity of loss, while simultaneously galvanizing the search for his two missing sons.
With the father’s body recovered, the mission’s focus has sharpened with renewed intensity. The joint SAR task force will continue operations for three more days, deploying a combination of surface sweeps, dive teams, and advanced sonar systems across the Padar Strait. The hope is that the same relentless determination that defied the family’s pessimism on the tenth day can now achieve one more vital result.
The tragedy’s timeline remains agonizingly clear: the KM Putri Sakinah sank on December 26. The couple’s 12-year-old daughter was recovered on December 29. Now, with the coach found, the arithmetic of grief narrows to two: his sons, aged 9 and 10. For a family that had prepared for the worst, the “impossible” discovery of the father has become a fragile new foundation for hope as the search for their children enters its most critical phase.
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