SIBUYAN ISLAND -Relatives said goodbye to their missing kin at the site of a capsized ferry in the central Philippines yesterday fearing they will not see them again, dead or alive.
Hundreds of corpses are believed trapped in the seven-storey Princess of the Stars, which ran aground and flipped over with 865 passengers and crew on board during Typhoon Fengshen on Saturday.
The overall death toll from the sixth typhoon to hit the Philippines this storm season could top 1,300, including almost 500 people killed in a torrent of flooding in the centre and south of the archipelago.
The ferry capsized off Sibuyan island and panicked passengers had little time to get off. The vessel capsized less than half an hour after the ship started listing.
"Most of the women, children and elderly were left behind in the sinking ship. They were afraid to leave because of the strong winds and gigantic waves," Jesus Gica, one of just 56 survivors, said.
Mark Anthony Barrozo's four-month-pregnant girlfriend was on board. After a Catholic priest said Mass on a coastguard ship close to the site of the ferry, Mr Barrozo shouted "Forgive me" before dropping to his knees in grief.
US and Philippine divers have so far retrieved 18 bodies but the operation is painstaking due to narrow corridors, floating debris, darkness and the ship's precarious position wedged on a rocky ledge.
About 130 corpses, including a toddler, have been found in the water and have also washed up on beaches. But with at least nine other vessels sunk in Saturday's typhoon, disaster officials are having trouble identifying where they came from.
An inquiry has begun into the ferry disaster and the coastguard station commander in Manila has been removed from his post while it proceeds. - (Reuters)