Death toll from Cebu ship collision rises to 61

MANILA, Philippines - Navy technical divers and local fishermen retrieved five more bodies from the sunken M/V St. Thomas Aquinas, bringing to 61 the total number of casualties from the sea tragedy last Friday.

“The recovery of the bodies, excluding those who were reportedly fished out by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) rescue teams, has reduced to 59 the official unaccounted passengers and crewmembers of the doomed M/V St. Thomas Aquinas,” the military’s Central Command (Centcom) spokesman Navy Lt. Jim Alagao said.

Navy divers retrieved two bodies inside the passenger cabin at the lower deck of the sunken ferry, while three others were fished out by local fishermen assisting in the ongoing search and rescue.

The PCG, on the other hand, declared a higher number of casualties at 64 with 56 people still missing.

Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said that the divers only managed to make one dive yesterday morning and they decided to call off operations because of rough seas.

Balilo said they might resume operations today, depending on the weather conditions.

The PCG said the number of survivors remained at 750.

The 11,405-gross ton M/V St. Thomas Aquinas was reportedly carrying a total of 870 passengers and crew when it sank last Aug. 16.

On Monday, technical divers from the Philippine Fleet’s Naval Special Operations Group (Navsog) retrieved eight bodies from the lower deck of the ship’s passenger cabin and the linen room before terminating their search and retrieval operations. – Evelyn Macairan, Marigold Lebumfacil, Ria Mae Booc, Jose Sollano, AJ dela Torre/The Freeman