TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Four foreign nationals from Spain have been declared missing after sinking in the waters of Selat Padar, Komodo National Park, West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Indonesia, on Friday night, December 26, 2025. The search for all four is still ongoing until today.
The Head of Public Relations of the NTT Regional Police, Commissioner Henry Novika Chandra, said that the Directorate of Water and Air Police (Ditpolairud) along with a joint team involving Basarnas, Lanal, and the Port Master of Labuan Bajo are still searching for the victims.
“Information from the district police chief is still not found, while analysis and evaluation are still being conducted at 20:30 WITA (Central Indonesian Time),” Henry confirmed to Tempo on Saturday night, December 27, 2025.
The four Spanish tourists are identified as Martin Carreras Fernando, Martin Garcia Mateo, Martines Ortuno Maria Lia, and Martinez Ortuno Enriquejavier.
Henry explained that the maritime accident occurred on Friday at around 20:45 WITA. Motorboat Putri Sakinah GT 27 suddenly sank while sailing in the waters of Selat Padar. The exact cause of the sinking of the tourist boat is still unknown.
“We will conduct an examination of the captain, crew, shipping agents, and tour agents to ensure that maritime safety aspects are complied with and to uncover the exact cause of this incident,” said Henry.
There were a total of 11 victims on board the boat. A joint SAR team has successfully evacuated seven people, including 2 Spanish nationals, and the others were a tour guide and four crew members.
The challenges faced by the joint SAR team in the effort to search for the victims are the weather conditions and limited visibility. In addition, the ship’s crew could not determine the exact location of the ship before the accident occurred.
“So the focus of the search team in the field is to continue the search operation, and later will assess whether it is possible to dive to search the conditions underwater,” said Personnel Rescue Pos SAR West Manggarai Barat Yudha Pradana Kusuma in Labuan Bajo, as reported by Antara, Saturday, December 27, 2025.
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