The judicial authority investigating the case of the two girls, Anna and Olivia, allegedly murdered by their father Tomas Gimeno in Tenerife, are to authorise the end of the search of the sea bed by the oceanographic vessel Ángeles Alvariño in the next few days, due to the steepness of the underwater terrain.
Both the lead investigator and the vessel's head of operations have said that it is "impossible" to continue with the tracking due to the underwater terrain, and that it is "completely unapproachable" for exploration in the area where hypothetically new results could be located.
The conclusions of the expert's opinions are as follows:
In the course of the search, the Judicial Police were able to collect and analyze new information, and its result was to discover that in the long drift of the boat after the loss of mobile signal, for a short period of time, its engines returned to work and made a navigation of about three minutes.
The point where the engines stopped again becomes the most likely point where Tomás could have thrown himself into the sea. From this point on, a new search area is designed, centering it on that same point. A search area of 500 metres is established around it. And the drift line is delimited by establishing a channel 500 metres wide, 250 on each side of it, on which to search.
The drift begins at the coordinates 28 ° 22.7153 ′ N and 016 ° 12.6818 ′ W and heading 220 °. Through the use of the rov [underwater robot] 176 lines and transits were made, the polygon being delimited between the coordinates 28 ° 22.9026 ′ N 016 ° 13.1761 ′ W and 28 ° 22.2693 ′ N 016 ° 12.4063 ′ W With a total distance travelled of 60,006 metres and an explored area of 611,903 m2.
This drift line was taken as a base, and the exploration was extended to both sides of it.
At positions 28 ° 22.6342 ′ N 016 ° 12.8263 ′ W and 28 ° 22.6570 ′ N 016 ° 12.8174 ′ W, two scuba bottles appeared that could be verified as belonging to Tomás. These types of bottles give a very limited supply of air, and it is speculated that he used them in his suicide attempt to ensure that he reached the necessary depth to avoid turning back.
Search lines were established five metres apart around the area where the bottles appeared to be sure that no objects, no matter how small, were left in the area. The lead belt was also searched for, which would confirm that it was adrift, but could not be found.
Given the currents at the depth of the seabed, it cannot be guaranteed that a body weighted with a diving belt would not roll away and could reach an undetermined place and, therefore, outside the search capacity that we have.
The search robot needs urgent spare parts:
After more than a month of searching for Anna, Olivia and Tomas Gimeno, the resistance of the equipment being used is starting to be affected by the intensity of the work.
Thanks to the presence of the Ángeles Alvariño on the island, it has been possible to locate Olivia's body, as well as several objects owned by Tomas Gimeno, which has largely clarified what happened on the fateful night of April 27th.
Now, the ship is experiencing difficulties, as bad weather adds technical problems, which have kept it in dock in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The technical chief of the Liropus robot, José Cubeiro, explained that "it is not only a matter of time, but we are running out of spare parts. These parts can take two to three months to arrive.”
