Search goes on for many hundreds missing in typhoon (9 a.m.)
MANILA - Rescuers searched Monday for survivors of Typhoon Fengshen after it cut a violent path through the country and left many hundreds dead or missing in flood-swollen villages and a capsized ferry.
The death toll from the typhoon was put at more than 130 late Sunday, but most of the more than 700 passengers and crew of a ferry that ran aground then tipped over in stormy seas were still unaccounted for.
Only 10 wave-battered survivors were known to have made it to land after the ship was struck by the typhoon Saturday. Several bodies drifted ashore on a high tide.
The 23,824-ton Princess of Stars was traveling from Manila to Cebu when it ran aground a few miles off central Sibuyan island then capsized, said Mayor Nanette Tansingco of Sibuyan’s San Fernando.
Coast guard frogmen who managed to get to the stricken ship got no response when they rapped on the hull with metal instruments late Sunday, then had to give up for the night due to strong waves. They hoped to get inside on Monday, possibly with U.S. assistance requested by the Philippine Red Cross.
After the storm stymied earlier attempts to reach the ship and kept aircraft at bay, a rescue vessel battled huge waves and strong winds to approach Sunday, more than 24 hours after the ferry lost radio contact.
Anxious relatives of passengers aboard the ferry continue to wait in Sulpicio Lines’ Cebu and Manila offices for news about their loved ones. (AP/Sunnex)
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