An Indonesian court sentenced this Monday to 3.5 years in prison the captain of the ship from the Asian archipelago with a Spanish family of six on board, of whom only two survived.
The court found guilty of the crime of negligence both the captain, 56, and the head of the engine room, 22, whom it sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
According to the police investigation, The captain was not controlling the helm at the time of the accident, but rather the chief engineer, who did not have the appropriate license.
“The captain delegated navigation authority to another person. However, the responsibility remains his (…) The captain is obliged to prevent or anticipate a risk or danger, not only to respond to the situation,” noted the panel of magistrates during the reading of the sentence.
For his part, the chief engineer admitted during the process “to have navigation knowledge based on the teachings of the captain”, whom he sometimes replaced at the controls of the ship, despite not having a license to take the helm, the judges noted during today’s hearing.
The judges also determined that the captain acted negligently by failing to inform passengers about safety procedures, such as the use of life jackets, and not providing aid to the victims when the boat began to sink.
At the end of March, Andrea Ortuño, the Spanish woman who survived the shipwreck with her daughter, declared by videoconference that the crew members “never helped” her deceased children and husband and that at “no time” did the crew members explain the safety protocols to them.
The KM Putri Sakinah tourist boat sank in the waters of Padar Island – in the Komodo National Park – around 8:30 p.m. local time on December 26 (12:30 GMT), after which a search operation was activated for the four Spaniards who were missing.
After 15 days of operation, the rescuers recovered the mortal remains of Fernando Martín, former soccer player and coach of the Valencia CF women’s B team; a son of this; and a daughter of Ortuño. The body of another son of the survivor and an ex-partner was never found.
In addition to the two Spanish women, four crew members and a guide also survived, all Indonesians.
