Saturday, June 28, 2008
Divers head to sunken Philippine ferry to remove toxic cargo (9 p.m.)
MANILA - Commercial divers headed to a sunken Philippine ferry Saturday to remove a toxic cargo before authorities can resume retrieving hundreds of bodies believed trapped inside the ship.
Transportation Undersecretary Maria Elena Bautista said the divers will first determine whether the wreck of the ferry, which capsized in a typhoon a week ago with more than 850 people on board, is stable before they cut a hole in the hull. That would allow them to pull out a 40-foot (12-meter) steel container with 22,000 pounds (10,000 kilograms) of the pesticide endosulfan.
The government learned about the cargo only after it was informed by Del Monte Philippines, which was to use it on its pineapple plantations in the south. Officials halted the retrieval operations Friday fearing for the safety of 103 divers, including eight U.S. servicemen.
Most of the local divers have been sent to Manila for medical tests for possible contamination.
The chemical is used to kill mites in pineapples but can be lethal to humans. Bautista said ferry owner Sulpicio Lines violated maritime rules that prohibit carrying toxic or hazardous materials on passenger vessels.
The government has advised the public not to eat fish caught in the area where the ferry capsized off central Sibuyan island.
Bautista said initial laboratory tests showed there was no water contamination around the ferry. Another test has been conducted but the results were not immediately available, she said.
Retrieval of the bodies will resume only after the toxic cargo is removed, she said.
It remains unclear how many passengers and crew were trapped inside when the 23,824-ton Princess of the Stars suddenly listed and went belly up in a half hour or less, leaving just the tip of its bow jutting from the water. (AP) |
