LABUAN BAJO - A joint SAR team in the second day of search for four victims who were reported missing due to a tourist boat accident in the waters of Padar Island, Labuan Bajo found a ship body debris as far as five nautical miles from the scene.
"The search for the four victims who are foreign nationals (WNA) from Spain is still being carried out," said Head of the Basarnas Maumere Office Fathur Rahman when contacted from Labuan Bajo, Saturday.
Previously, the joint SAR team had evacuated seven of the total 11 victims of the tourist ship named KM Putri Sakinah which sank in the waters of Padar Island, Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Friday (26/12) night.
Fathur Rahman added that the joint SAR team in the second day's search found goods from the KM Putri Sakinah ship in the form of gas cylinders, debris or debris from the KM Putri Sakinah ship, and the captain's room body.
The joint SAR team in the search for victims used the West Manggarai SAR Post Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB), Sea Rider KSOP Labuan Bajo, RIB Lanal Maumere, RIB Ditpolair Polda NTT, KPC Ship Ditpolair Polda NTT.
He added that the search for the victims was carried out by combing around the scene in the northern waters of Padar Island since morning until 18.00 Wita.
"The search for the four Spanish WNA for the third day will continue tomorrow," he said.
He also explained that there were a number of obstacles in the search for the victims, including high waves reaching around 0.25-1.5 meters, strong currents around the waters of Padar Island and heavy rain that reduced visibility.
"However, it did not lower the spirit of the joint SAR team in the search process," he said.
Furthermore, the joint SAR team from the Basarnas Maumere Communication Team has conducted a search and matching of data from the manifest of the four foreign tourist victims, and has made several improvements, namely that the four missing victims are one family consisting of a father, one child, and two boys.
Meanwhile, the two foreign nationals from Spain who were previously declared safe and had been evacuated on Friday night were the wife of the victim and a child of the victim.
Furthermore, the next four survivors consist of four crew members (ABK) including the captain of the KM Putri Sakinah ship and a tour guide.
Previously, the tourist ship KM Putri Sakinah made a tourist trip to Kalong Island, Komodo National Park (TNK). After enjoying the tourist spot, they then moved to Padar Island to then do trekking on Padar Island on Saturday morning, but unfortunately they experienced a disaster of engine failure until they sank on the way to Padar Island.
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