CEBU, Aug 18: Philippine rescuers struggled in rough seas today as they resumed a bleak search for nearly 170 people missing in the country’s latest ferry disaster, but insisted miracle survivor stories were possible.
Thirty-four people have been confirmed dead after the ferry, carrying 830 passengers and crew, sank almost instantly on Friday night following a collision with a cargo vessel outside a major port in the central city of Cebu.
Stormy weather forced an early suspension of search and rescue operations with a few hours of daylight remaining yesterday, and similar conditions hampered the effort when rescuers returned to the waters at dawn today morning.
Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Gregory Fabic said the weather had prevented divers from reaching the interior of the sunken vessel, where many of those missing were believed trapped, but rescuers would make every effort to get there.
“It is possible that there are air pockets in its compartments and there might be survivors,” Fabic told, adding people could survive for 72 hours in such conditions.
“There is still hope that there might just be survivors there.”
By mid-morning divers had searched parts of the outside of the sunken vessel, which is at a depth of about 30 metres (98 ft), and found the bodies of a man and a woman, Jaypee Abuan, a navy spokesman aboard one of the patrol crafts, told AFP.
“(But) we have not yet breached the interior,” he said, while forecasts of continued stormy weather throughout the day raised doubts that a full-throttle dive mission could be launched.
The official tally from the disaster, according to the coastguard, was 32 dead and 170 missing.
The extra two bodies reported raised the confirmed death toll to 34.
Meanwhile, navy vessels, coastguard personnel on rubber boats and volunteer fishermen scoured about three square kilometres (1.8 square miles) of water outside the port for anyone who may still be floating.
While maintaining that all hope had not yet been lost, authorities cautioned the odds of finding any more survivors were low.
“We are still hopeful, although you have to accept the reality that their chances of survival are very slim,” the head of the provincial disaster management office, Neil Sanchez, told reporters from rescue command centre at the port.
The ships collided as they were going in opposite directions at a well-known choke point near the mouth of Cebu’s port.
Authorities said the St Thomas Aquinas ferry sank within 10 minutes of the crash.
The cargo ship, Sulpicio Express 7, which had 36 crew members on board, did not sink. Its steel bow had caved in on impact but it sailed safely to dock. (AGENCIES)
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