Sunken ferry yields 163 bodies

MANILA, Philippines – Salvage divers have retrieved a total of 163 bodies from the sunken MV Princess of the Stars off Romblon.

Salvage firm Harbor Star project manager Rod Bella said they would continue “Phase II,” or the retrieval of the bodies trapped beneath the ill-fated ship tomorrow.

“The diving recovery would go on until Friday, up to Deck A which is the passenger suite area,” Bella said.

Coast Guard commandant Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, divers retrieved a total of 163 bodies from the site.

The five new bodies, which were added to the 158 bodies retrieved last Tuesday, were found during the morning dive.

“If they (Harbor Star) claim that they have completed phase two (then) we will evaluate. We will sit down with the Task Force Princess of the Stars (TF-POTS) to see if they are satisfied with the search,” Tamayo said.

Tamayo admitted the divers encountered technical limitations in the retrieval operations, such as the breathing time of the divers.

“But we asked the divers to thoroughly search the ship and if there are areas where they could double check,” he said.

Tamayo said the search for the bodies should not end even if Harbor Star ended phase two of its operations.

“If there are additional opportunities even during the refloating or the removal of the wreck” then they should grab the chance and recover the bodies.

The 23,000-ton Princess of the Stars  capsized during a typhoon off Sibuyan island in Romblon carrying 850 passengers and crew.

Only 57 people survived the accident, and about 515 are still missing, which was the worst maritime disaster in the Philippines for 20 years.

The Harbor Star completed phase one of the operations that included the retrieval of toxic cargo inside the ship. – Evelyn Macairan