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Diver finds 12 bodies in hull of sunken ferry
Source: Agencies |
December 29, 2009, Tuesday
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AT least 12 bodies, including two toddlers, have been found inside the wreckage of a wooden-hulled ferry that sank near Manila on Christmas Eve, officials said yesterday.
The bodies of the rest of the 24 people missing may be trapped inside still-unopened cabins of MV Catalyn B, which collided with a fishing boat and sank off Cavite province's Limbones island before dawn last Thursday, said coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo.
He said the search continues for MV Catalyn B's missing passengers as well as 23 people missing from another ferry that sank off nearby Batangas province late last Saturday in the second sea disaster in three days.
Matthew Caldwell, an American technical diver and an auxiliary diver with the Philippine coast guard, said he saw the bodies throughout the wreckage of MV Catalyn B, which sank at a depth of more than 67 meters after the Christmas Eve collision.
"From different windows, you see different bodies," he said.
"There could very well be more, because I understand there are small cabins inside and most likely there were people sleeping in the cabin and never had the chance to get out."
The coast guard lacks trained people and equipment to dive to such depths and called on Caldwell, a longtime Philippine resident, to conduct the deep-sea search, Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the coast guard chief, said earlier.
More on board
Caldwell said the coast guard is now exploring alternatives to be able to recover the bodies, including possibly salvaging the whole boat.
Search-and-rescue teams, meanwhile, continue to comb waters near Verde Island off Batangas province, south of Manila, for at least 23 people missing from the second ferry, MV Baleno-9. Balilo said more people were found to have been on board MV Baleno-9 than initially thought.
Officials said earlier there were 88 passengers and crew on board, but the coast guard reported yesterday that data reconciled with different search and rescue units as well as the shipping company showed 101 people were on board. Six people died and 72 were rescued, a coast guard report said.
The bodies of the rest of the 24 people missing may be trapped inside still-unopened cabins of MV Catalyn B, which collided with a fishing boat and sank off Cavite province's Limbones island before dawn last Thursday, said coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo.
He said the search continues for MV Catalyn B's missing passengers as well as 23 people missing from another ferry that sank off nearby Batangas province late last Saturday in the second sea disaster in three days.
Matthew Caldwell, an American technical diver and an auxiliary diver with the Philippine coast guard, said he saw the bodies throughout the wreckage of MV Catalyn B, which sank at a depth of more than 67 meters after the Christmas Eve collision.
"From different windows, you see different bodies," he said.
"There could very well be more, because I understand there are small cabins inside and most likely there were people sleeping in the cabin and never had the chance to get out."
The coast guard lacks trained people and equipment to dive to such depths and called on Caldwell, a longtime Philippine resident, to conduct the deep-sea search, Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the coast guard chief, said earlier.
More on board
Caldwell said the coast guard is now exploring alternatives to be able to recover the bodies, including possibly salvaging the whole boat.
Search-and-rescue teams, meanwhile, continue to comb waters near Verde Island off Batangas province, south of Manila, for at least 23 people missing from the second ferry, MV Baleno-9. Balilo said more people were found to have been on board MV Baleno-9 than initially thought.
Officials said earlier there were 88 passengers and crew on board, but the coast guard reported yesterday that data reconciled with different search and rescue units as well as the shipping company showed 101 people were on board. Six people died and 72 were rescued, a coast guard report said.
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