Rescue teams seek way inside capsized ferry

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-24  |     ONLINE EDITION

TWO teams of rescuers prepared to dive into rough waters off the Philippine coast today to find a way inside a capsized ferry in a desperate effort to find 800 people believed to be still aboard.

If the planned underwater missions fail, a tugboat will be on standby with gear to cut through the ferry's hull as a last resort -- a prospect complicated by a cargo of bunker oil that could leak and turn the human disaster into an environmental one.

The divers, however, will get the first shot, coast guard Chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said, "looking for open hatches or doors on the side of the ship, diving underneath, breaking cabin glass windows if we can break them or cut an opening."

"We'll do this at the earliest opportunity, weather permitting," Tamayo said.

On Sunday, divers heard no response when they hammered on the hull, but officials refused to give up.

"We're not ruling out that somebody there is still alive," Tamayo said. "You can never tell."

Hundreds of people are feared to have been trapped when the ship suddenly tilted and went belly up Saturday at the height of the powerful storm that left 163 people dead in flooded communities in the central Philippines.

All that was visible Monday of the 23,824-ton, seven-story Princess of Stars was one end poking out of the waters off Sibuyan island, still churning after Typhoon Fengshen's full force swept through.

Only 38 ferry survivors have been found, including 28 who drifted at sea for more than 24 hours, first in a life raft, then in life jackets, before they were found Sunday about 80 miles (130 kilometers) to the north in eastern Quezon province.

A U.S. Navy ship carrying search and rescue helicopters was headed in, and a P-3 maritime surveillance plane also was being dispatched. "We want to express our condolences to the Philippine people," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.