Rescuers find bodies inside sunken Philippine ferry

MANILA, June 25 (Kyodo) - Rescuers found several bodies Tuesday floating inside a sunken passenger ferry that capsized with more than 800 passengers and crew aboard Saturday off the coast of the central Philippine province of Romblon, a spokesman for the Philippine Navy said.

''Most of the bodies were floating inside the ship. They were trapped when the ship suddenly tilted and capsized,'' Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo told a local radio station interview.

Nanette Tansingco, mayor of San Fernando in Romblon, said divers have yet to recover the bodies.

Quoting the divers, she said the inside of the ferry is pitch-dark.

She added rescuers, including divers from the United States military and the Philippine navy and coast guard, are carefully assessing the situation to avoid an oil spill.

Lt. Cmdr. Armando Balilo of the Philippine coast guard said at
least 67 bodies have so far been retrieved, while 48 people have been rescued.

The body of a male crew member is among those retrieved Tuesday.
The crewman, with a handheld radio strapped to his uniform, was identified through an identification card, radio reports said.

More bodies are being washed ashore in coastal villages and nearby provinces more than three days after the ship sank.

Tansingco said two more bodies of children were washed ashore Tuesday in her town.

The 23,824-ton Princess of Stars left Manila on Friday night for Cebu and capsized Saturday in choppy waters caused by Typhoon Fengshen off Sibuyan Island near Romblon.