The 12-year-old daughter of a Valencia football manager has been found dead and two of her siblings are feared to have drowned with their father when the family’s boat capsized off the coast of Indonesia, according to Spanish media.
The child’s body was recovered on Monday morning following a major search operation, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported, citing Indonesian rescue workers.
Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency said the remains were discovered by a local resident on Serai Island, around half a mile from where the boat is believed to have sunk.
A rescue raft was dispatched shortly afterwards to recover the body, with a member of the rescue team later confirming to Spanish news agency EFE that the remains were those of the missing girl.
The child had been travelling with her father, Valencia coach Fernando Martin Carreras, and her siblings when the boat capsized on Friday during a family trip.
Carreras and three of his children – two sons and the girl – were feared to have drowned and have been missing since the accident.
According to Spanish media, the grim discovery has now confirmed the fate of one of the children, while the search continues for the father and his two sons.
The 12-year-old daughter of a Valencia football manager has been found dead and two of her siblings are feared to have drowned with their father when the family’s boat capsized off the coast of Indonesia, according to Spanish media
The child had been travelling with her father, Valencia coach Fernando Martin Carreras (pictured), and her siblings when the boat capsized on Friday
The child’s body was recovered on Monday morning following a major search operation, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported, citing Indonesian rescue workers
Martin was a coach with Spanish club Valencia CF, which said he and three of his children died ‘in the tragic boat accident in Indonesia, as confirmed by local authorities’.
The boat Martin and his family were on capsized after suffering engine failure during bad weather in the Padar Island Strait, close to the resort town of Labuan Bajo, authorities said.
The area lies near Komodo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its Komodo dragons.
Fathur Rahman, chief of a local search and rescue agency, said rescuers had recovered the body of a female ‘highly suspected of being a victim’ of the accident, adding that authorities were working to formally confirm her identity.
Search efforts for Martin and his remaining children are continuing despite strong currents and high waves, Rahman said, with operations set to continue into Tuesday.
Martin’s wife and one daughter survived the accident, along with four crew members and a tour guide. The boat was carrying 11 people in total.
Fernando is seen holding a trophy with his son Mateo, who is also feared to have died
Rescue teams search for survivors after a tourist boat sank in rough seas off Indonesia
Indonesia’s tourism ministry said on Sunday that it had imposed a temporary ban on tour boats sailing in the waters around Labuan Bajo and the Komodo Islands.
In a separate incident, a speedboat carrying 21 people capsized in waters near Indonesia’s Papua province, leaving 17 people missing and one confirmed dead, a local rescue agency official said on Monday.
Boats and ferries are a common mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where maritime accidents are often linked to bad weather and lax safety standards that can lead to overcrowding.
