SAN FERNANDO Inocencio Rosario was surrounded by bodies and debris in the dark yesterday when his flashlight found a small bit of comfort in the capsized ferry: a plastic rosary floating in the water.
The Coast Guard diver slipped on the string of light blue beads for luck, hoping it was an omen that a miracle was still possible.
Divers wriggled into the upside-down ferry yesterday but found only bodies three days after typhoon Frank shoved the seven-story vessel over. So far, 70 bodies have been recovered, according to the Coast Guard.
With only 57 survivors found so far, more than 700 passengers and crew are missing. The storm’s confirmed toll on shore includes at least 227 dead and 275 missing, with dozens reported killed elsewhere by floods and landslides.
Treacherous
Among the survivors were 28 who drifted at sea for more than 24 hours before they were found last Sunday about 130 kilometers from the accident site.
Search teams ruled out cutting through the hull of the Princess—a prospect complicated by a cargo of bunker oil that could leak.
“I felt sad when I saw the bodies,” said Rosario, who still wears the rosary beads he found. “I hope somebody there is alive. We have only probed about 15 percent of the ship.”
The conditions were treacherous. Coast Guard Chief Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo said the divers broke windows and used every other gap they could find to slip inside the 23,824-ton ferry.
Once inside, they found bodies floating in air pockets along with chairs, baggage, shoes and shards of broken glass. Iron bars, twisted by the sudden capsizing, jutted out here and there.
About 30 divers were on hand, including some US Navy frogmen who were expected to take their turns inside the vessel today as well as help map the seabed. The ferry is lying on unstable coral, so there are concerns it could slip and plunge deeper.
Life jackets
Philippine Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said passengers could have survived initially—life jackets were on some bodies—but the roiling seas and lingering strong winds kept rescuers at bay too long, raising the chances that some may have suffocated.
“It seems the passengers hesitated from jumping into the turbulent Waters” because “it happened too sudden,” Arevalo told dzBB radio, referring to survivors’ accounts of the ship quickly listing and going down in a half-hour or less.
“(With the life vests) you will survive for a few hours, but in time, the air will run out,” he added.
Survivors said the ship suddenly tilted and went belly up Saturday at the height of the typhoon.
Anxious and angry family members had been clinging to hope their loved ones might still be found alive.
Trapped
But with blame flying over how the 24,000-ton ferry was allowed to set sail with the storm looming, shaken rescue divers said they had discovered the worst when they finally worked their way into the ship.
“We saw 15 bodies trapped in one section of the ship,” said Rosario, a lieutenant commander. “Two men were on the bridge, wearing the Sulpicio Lines uniform. One was holding the radio. He must have been an officer.”
Passage through the ship was hampered by fallen furniture, equipment and broken glass, he said, adding that they did not have enough underwater flashlights or batteries to dive for long.
The ferry reportedly developed engine trouble while trying to make it to safety.
There have been reports from local officials of dozens of survivors being found on nearby islands, but the Coast Guard said they had yet to confirm the accounts.
Vice President Noli de Castro, who inspected the recovery operations yesterday, said they still hoped that survivors might be found in an air pocket inside the ship.
Oil cargo
But he warned that rescue efforts would have to proceed slowly to avoid fuel leaking. Oil spill booms were set up around the sunken vessel.
The tragedy was the fourth for Sulpicio Lines since 1987, when the Doña Paz collided with a tanker and sank, killing more than 4,000 people. (See related story)
De Castro appealed to the public for patience, saying that the recovery operations “will not be as quick as we thought.”
“The important thing is we do things correctly,” he said.
“If we do it quickly, there might be a bigger disaster,” de Castro told reporters.
In Cebu, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz both assured assistance to the families once their offices get the official list of casualties.
“As soon as we get the concrete list of victims, we will immediately extend assistance,” Garcia told reporters at a meeting of the Provincial Development Council. (AFP/AP)/With GMD)
