Hundreds missing in ferry tragedy
23 June 2008 - 15:58
Hundreds of people are still missing after a Philippine ferry carrying more than 800 people capsized in a typhoon on Saturday.
Only 33 survivors have been found - 28 of them in a coastal village after they had been drifting on a life raft for some 24 hours.
Navy divers are expected to drill into the side of the upturned vessel in case passengers remain alive in air pockets.
A US Navy ship is on its way to help with the search.
Elsewhere in the Philippines, the storm has left some 160 people dead.
The Princess of the Stars ferry left Manila on Friday en route to Cebu, and according to its owners, Sulpicio Lines, contact was lost at about 1230 (0430 GMT) on Saturday.
Twenty-eight survivors - most of them men - were found in a coastal village in Quezon province on Monday, DZBB radio reported.
It quoted the survivors as saying that 30 people were originally in a lifeboat but two were lost at sea.
Battling huge waves, a rescue ship only managed to reach the ferry more than 24 hours after it lost radio contact.
Coast guard divers who rapped on the hull had received no response, officials said, and rough seas were hampering search efforts.
"We might have to drill holes so our divers can access it," Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the head of coast guard, said.
The first four survivors to be found on Sunday told local media about their experiences.
One of them, Renato Lanorio, said he had been on the top deck when a crew member ordered passengers to put on life jackets at about 1130 on Saturday.
He said that about 30 minutes later, the ship tilted and elderly people and children slipped on the rain-soaked deck.
Another, Jesus Gica, said he was worried that many people had been trapped below deck.
"There were many of us who jumped overboard, but we were separated because of the big waves," he said.
"The others were also able to board the life rafts, but it was useless because the strong winds flipped them over."
