(Corrects to say town, not island, to describe Labuan Bajo in paragraph 2) MADRID/JAKARTA, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Four members of a Spanish family are missing after a boat carrying eleven people sank off the coast of Indonesia in extreme weather, Spanish and Indonesian authorities said on Saturday. The father and three of his children, […]
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Spanish family of four missing after boat sinks off Indonesia
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(Corrects to say town, not island, to describe Labuan Bajo in paragraph 2)
MADRID/JAKARTA, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Four members of a Spanish family are missing after a boat carrying eleven people sank off the coast of Indonesia in extreme weather, Spanish and Indonesian authorities said on Saturday.
The father and three of his children, who were on holiday in Indonesia, have been missing since Friday night when the boat capsized in waves of up to three metres in the Padar Island Strait near the town of Labuan Bajo, a popular tourist spot.
Rescue teams searched the waters, still choppy with high waves and strong currents, from the early morning until 6 p.m. local time, finding wreckage and debris of the boat.
Authorities halted the search overnight and will resume on Sunday morning local time, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency SAR said in a statement.
The mother and one daughter from the Spanish family, as well as four crew members and a tour guide, were rescued and safe, the agency added.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Dewi Kurniawati in Jakarta; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)