Indonesia boat disaster 2025: captain to serve three-year prison sentence over death of four Spaniards

An Indonesian court has sentenced the 56-year-old captain of the tourist boat that sank near the Komodo National Park during the 2025 Christmas holidays, killing four Spaniards from the Valencia region, to three and a half years in prison for negligence.

The court has also ordered the imprisonment of the 22-year-old vessel's engine room chief for two years and six months after investigators found that he had taken control of the boat without the required licence shortly before the fatal accident.

According to the investigation, which concluded after the interrogation of 18 witnesses, "the captain delegated navigational authority to another person" without a licence.

"However, the responsibility remains with him (...) The captain is obliged to prevent or anticipate a risk or danger, not just to respond to the situation," the judges stated during the reading of the sentence.

Both defendants were arrested in early March. Under the country's legislation, the requested sentence is not cumulative for each victim, but rather applied generally to the crime.

The victims of this tragedy were Fernando Martín, former footballer and coach of Valencia CF's women's B team and his nine-year-old son, Mateo. Also killed were Lía, 12, and Quique, ten, both children of Fernando's current wife, survivor Andrea Ortuño, and her former partner.

The costly searches that followed the sinking could not locate Quique's body.

On 31 March, Andrea gave her statement as a witness and survivor, along with her seven-year-old daughter, Mar. The two of them were in a higher cabin and were able to jump to safety before the ship sank. The other family members were trapped.