LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — In a harrowing account shared Sunday, the wife of a Spanish football coach described the terrifying seconds when a tourist vessel, struck by two powerful waves, capsized and sank in the Komodo National Park, separating her from her husband and three of their children.
Mar Martínez Ortuno, whose husband Fernando Martín Carreras coaches the Valencia CF Women’s B team, provided a written statement detailing the Friday night disaster. The account, conveyed through local tourism official Budi Widjaja and reported by Detik.com, offers the first survivor’s perspective of the sinking that has captivated international attention.
“The ship was hit by two waves,” Mar stated. “On the second wave, the ship fell to its side, then sank.”
A Fateful Separation on the Ship
The tragedy unfolded rapidly after the Pinisi Putri Sakinah departed Komodo Island for nearby Padar Island. According to Mar’s testimony, the family’s location on the vessel proved tragically decisive at the moment of crisis. She and her seven-year-old daughter were in an upper deck area, while her husband and their three other children were asleep in cabins located in the lower hull of the ship.
As the vessel listed violently, Mar and her young daughter managed to climb a wall of the ship and swim to a lifeboat, joining the captain, crew, and a tour guide who performed the same desperate maneuver. Her husband and other children, trapped below deck, never surfaced.
“The mother and daughter were in the upper room of the ship and managed to climb the ship’s wall and swim to the lifeboat. The captain and crew also went to the lifeboat,” explained Budi Widjaja, relaying Mar’s account. “The father and three children were sleeping in the hull cabin. They were not seen able to get out of the room.”
Rescue in Pitch Darkness
The scene was one of chaos and darkness, with the remote location adding to the peril. After reaching the lifeboat, Mar and her daughter were transferred between several vessels that came to their aid before finally being evacuated to Labuan Bajo by a joint search and rescue (SAR) team coordinated by the national agency Basarnas.
Mar, who is grieving and in shock, has authorized the release of this chronology but has declined all interview requests.
The Ongoing Search and Its Challenges
The four missing individuals are Fernando Martín Carreras and his three children: Martines Ortuno Maria Lia, Martin Garcia Mateo, and Martinez Ortuno Enriquejavier. A fourth day of searching commenced Monday, following a Sunday operation that recovered a life jacket from the sunken vessel but was otherwise hindered by powerful currents and poor visibility.
For the international community in Indonesia, particularly the expatriate and traveler circles in Bali for whom Komodo is a bucket-list destination, this first-hand narrative transforms a news headline into a visceral human story. It underscores the catastrophic speed at which a routine evening transfer can turn deadly and highlights the critical importance of situational awareness and emergency preparedness for all maritime travel, even on seemingly calm, scheduled tours.
The account also raises poignant questions about vessel safety protocols, passenger briefings regarding cabin locations during transit, and the industry-wide challenge of balancing the romance of adventure travel with uncompromising safety standards. As the search continues under difficult conditions, the hope for the family and a watching world grows increasingly tempered by the harsh realities of the sea.