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AFP: Philippine divers enter sunken ferry, hundreds feared dead
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[c]1 hour ago
ABOARD THE BRP PAMPANGA, Philippines (AFP) — Philippine divers Tuesday entered the hull of a passenger ferry which capsized with hundreds on board, as officials held out slim hopes of finding survivors.
The navy and coast guard frogmen breached the ferry, which went down in a typhoon four days ago carrying 862 people, at first light but found little, according to Commodore Cecil Chen who is leading the recovery effort.
An AFP reporter onboard this coast guard vessel at the scene said the divers emerged with the corpse of a woman. Chen said he expects they will see some more bodies as the search continues.
"We believe there may be some people trapped there and that is the objective of the diving operations," said coast guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo in Manila.
The number of survivors rose overnight from 36 to 43, the coast guard said, without giving details. Twelve bodies were found floating in the sea.
Divers had been waiting for stormy seas whipped up by Typhoon Fengshen to subside before entering the 23,824-tonne ferry that sank off the central island of Sibuyan on Saturday.
Survivors have reported only about 100 people managed to jump overboard as the vessel suddenly lurched and capsized in a matter of minutes. Just the tip of the bow remains above water.
Eight coast guard and navy boats are continuing to comb waters nearby as chances recede of finding anyone alive.
There have been reports from local officials of dozens of survivors being found in nearby islands but Balilo said the accounts had not been confirmed.
He also said that another ship, the transport vessel Lake Paoay, had gone down in the same area on Saturday, leaving three dead and 17 missing although this was only discovered this week.
Countless people in this impoverished nation rely on relatively inexpensive ferries to get around the country's 7,100 islands.
The ferry's operator, Sulpicio Lines, has had at least three other major accidents since 1987, when its Dona Paz vessel collided with an oil tanker.
Around 4,000 people were killed, the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history.
The government said it had suspended the company's operations until further notice, while anti-corruption campaigners are planning a class action lawsuit.
Much of the Philippines is reeling from the weekend typhoon strike which left about 600 people dead or missing in floods, landslides and boat accidents, apart from the ferry disaster victims.