SAR Team Widens Search for Missing South Korean Visitor off Gili Trawangan

A joint search and rescue team has widened its operations in the waters off Gili Trawangan after a South Korean visitor went missing while snorkeling. On the second day of the search, crews added a rescue boat and continued both surface sweeps and dives near the area where she was last seen.

The search had produced no results by Wednesday afternoon, according to the Bangsal SAR Alert Unit coordinator cited by Antara. The update describes a coordinated response involving national and local agencies, residents and fishermen, with operations taking place both on the water and below it.

Search area and latest operations

The visitor, a 31-year-old South Korean national, was reported missing while snorkeling off Gili Trawangan on Tuesday, October 6. The island is in North Lombok District, in West Nusa Tenggara. Antara’s report said the joint team expanded the search area on the second day, Wednesday, focusing on the waters off the island.

The Mataram SAR Office dispatched an additional Rigid Buoyancy Boat, or RBB, from Lembar Port in West Lombok. The vessel was sent to reinforce operations already being carried out by the Bangsal SAR Alert Unit and local search and rescue elements.

Surface operations used the RBB, rubber boats and local fishing boats. Alongside those sweeps, the teams were conducting underwater searches through diving operations. As of Wednesday afternoon, personnel from the Mataram SAR Office, the Bangsal SAR Alert Unit and the crew of the KN 220 Mataram rescue vessel had carried out two dives around the location where the visitor was last seen.

The report said the search had yielded no results by that point. It did not provide further details on the conditions in the search area, the precise boundaries of the expanded operation or what steps would follow. Those details should not be inferred from the deployment of additional equipment or the fact that divers had entered the water.

A joint response across agencies

The search brings together personnel from several institutions. The Indonesian Navy, the West Nusa Tenggara Regional Police Water and Air Unit, North Lombok Police Water Unit and the National Search and Rescue Agency are among the participants, alongside the Mataram SAR Office and Bangsal SAR Alert Unit. Local residents and fishermen are also part of the joint team.

The account indicates that the response combines different forms of coverage: boats are sweeping the surface, while divers are searching underwater around the last-seen area. The additional RBB supplements boats and local vessels already involved. Antara did not describe the precise division of tasks among agencies, so it is not possible to say which team is responsible for a particular part of the search.

That distinction matters in reporting a developing rescue operation. A widened search area and further deployments describe the scale and organisation of the effort, but they do not establish what happened to the missing visitor. The confirmed status in the report remains that she had not been found by Wednesday afternoon.

What the update confirms, and what remains unknown

The available information establishes the reported circumstances, the timing of the search and the resources named by the authorities. The visitor was reported missing while snorkeling off Gili Trawangan on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the operation entered its second day, covered both surface and underwater searches, and included an additional RBB sent from Lembar Port. Two dives had taken place around the last-seen area by Wednesday afternoon, with no result reported at that time.

The report does not state the exact point where the visitor was last seen, how large the expanded search area is, or whether further equipment or personnel were expected. It also provides no account of the circumstances immediately before the disappearance. Until authorities provide more information, those questions remain open.

For readers following the incident, the most useful updates will be those that distinguish confirmed operational details from unanswered questions. Antara’s report records a continuing search and the participation of multiple agencies, residents and fishermen. It does not report a recovery or a conclusion to the operation.

What this means for investors

This is a search and rescue update, not a report on property demand, tourism performance or investment returns. It contains no market data from which to draw conclusions about Lombok’s investment outlook. Investors should treat the report as information about an incident and an ongoing response, rather than as evidence for a wider claim about the island or its visitor economy.

The immediate focus remains the search off Gili Trawangan. The next confirmed update from the relevant authorities will determine whether the operation has changed in scope or status.

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