Rescuers call a halt to ferry survivors search

2008-6-24  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

RESCUERS halted efforts last night to find nearly 800 people missing from a capsized ferry in the Philippines as darkness fell and large swells prevented divers from drilling holes into the doomed vessel.

Many passengers were feared trapped inside the Princess of Stars after a handful of survivors said people were still onboard when the ship sank off the central island of Sibuyan in waves as big as houses during Saturday's typhoon.

But officials held little hope of finding people alive in airpockets on the ferry.

"We feel there is no life inside," said Lieutenant-Colonel Edgard Arevalo.

The ship was resting upside down with the tip of its bow above water and its stern resting on the bottom of the sea, easily visible from shore.

The coast guard said divers would cut open the 23,824 tonne vessel today after rescue efforts were halted for the night.

At least 20 new survivors and 15 bodies were found close to Masbate island, at least 70km away from where the ship sank.

"We are still working on the positive identification of the survivors and the fatalities," Captain Gilbert Rueros said.

So far, more than 50 people have been found alive and at least 20 have been reported dead out of 864 passengers and crew on board.

The United States was sending a military ship, the USNS Stockham, with helicopters on board, to help with rescue efforts as well as a maritime surveillance aircraft.

Typhoon Fengshen, which weakened to a tropical storm over the South China Sea, pounded the Philippines at the weekend with gusts of up to 195kph.

Aside from the ferry disaster, possibly the worst in the Philippines in over 20 years, at least 155 people were killed, largely by drowning, in a torrent of floods in the south and centre of the archipelago, according to the Red Cross.

The sixth typhoon to hit the archipelago badly damaged the country's infrastructure, washing away thousands of homes, roads and bridges.

In the province worst hit by Fengshen, Iloilo, over 200,000 people were forced to evacuate. Damage to agriculture and infrastructure in the province was set at 1.7 billion pesos (US$38 million).