The search team scanning the seabed looking for clues to the whereabouts of Tomás Gimeno and his youngest daughter, one-year-old Anna, have found two small-sized scuba tanks in the area being searched, police sources have informed Europa Press. Investigators believe the bottles belong to the girls' father, and that he inhaled pure oxygen until he nearly lost consciousness and then jumped in the sea to his death, weighed down by a weight belt.
This is the first potential breakthrough in the investigation after recovering the body of six year old Olivia on June 10th, from a depth of 1,000 metres, 3 nautical miles from the Tenerife coast. The search was activated on April 28th after the mother of the girls alerted the police that her ex-partner, Tomás Gimeno, had not returned the girls home.
On June 10th, the oceanographic vessel Ángeles Alvariño located two sports bags on the seabed, one of them broken and empty and the other containing Olivia's body.
Days earlier, on June 7th, the ship's marine robot had recovered an oxygen bottle and a blanket in the area where the missing girls were being searched for.
Earlier today, the Government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, had asked everyone not to lose hope that more clues or evidence would be found indicating "something else" regarding Anna and Tomás’s whereabouts, adding that they had to wait for results from the work that the vessel is carrying out.
Regarding the possibilities of finding their remains, the delegate stressed that it is not possible to speak of probabilities. "It was already proving difficult to find clues and then Olivia was found. It will be extraordinary if something else is found," said Pestana.
Extended extension to help searching:
Pestano pointed out that the oceanographic vessel will continue to search for Anna and Tomás until the Ministry of Science and Innovation decides that the surveys must be completed so that the vessel can join the work of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO).
The Ángeles Alvariño continues to track the area where the father's mobile signal was lost and where his boat appeared, thanks to a third "greatly extended" extension, thanks to the work done by the ship and the "extraordinary" commitment that the crew has had on this case.
He also reported that the Guardia Civil is studying other means that can replace the Ángeles Alvariño, and the proposals that are in the market and the available public resources. It is intended to be a submarine that is capable of tracking depths ranging between 1,000 and 1,500 metres, in an area that is not easy for any instrument available on the market.
