Philippines rescuers may bore hole in ferry

[June 23, 2008]  MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Roiling seas stalled efforts to get inside a ferry capsized by a deadly typhoon in the Philippines and officials considered boring a hole into the vessel's hull to look for survivors among hundreds of missing passengers and crew, an official said Monday.

Strong waves that have largely kept a small flotilla of rescue ships at bay continued to pound the area Monday, leaving officials to plan the best way to get inside -- either with divers from below or by a hole that would be drilled in the hull, Tamayo said.

A group of 28 ferry passengers and crew washed ashore after drifting at sea for more than a day from the site where their ship was capsized and left most of the hundreds aboard missing and presumed dead, officials said.

Manila's DZBB radio said the survivors, 20 male passengers, four women and four crewmen, drifted at sea for more than 24 hours wearing their lifejackets, reaching Mulanay township in eastern Quezon province late Sunday.

Coast guard chief Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo announced early Monday that they had been found, raising the total number of survivors to 38. All were discovered after making it to land.

Tamayo said rescuers may have to bore a hole in the ship to allow divers access to an area where many aboard the ferry were believed to have been trapped. But rescue workers would have to operate carefully because the ferry also was carrying a cargo of bunker oil that could leak out.

Coast guard frogmen who managed to get to the stricken ship got no response when they rapped on the hull with metal instruments, then had to give up late Sunday due to the strong waves. The ship carried more than 740 passengers and crew.

"We're not ruling out that somebody there is still alive," Tamayo said. "You can never tell."

Strong waves continued to pound the area Monday. A U.S. Navy ship carrying search-and-rescue helicopters was expected to arrive from Okinawa late Monday, and a P-3 maritime surveillance plane also was being dispatched.

Rescuers hoped to get inside the ship with U.S. assistance requested by the Philippine Red Cross. Typhoon Fengshen has killed at least 163 people across the sprawling archipelago, setting off landslides and floods, and knocking out electricity.

Six bodies, including those of a man and woman who had bound themselves together, have washed ashore, along with children's slippers and life jackets.

The coast guard said it was checking a survivor's report that at least one group of people -- some dead, some alive -- had been spotted bobbing in the sea.

About two dozen relatives went to the Manila office of ferry owner Sulpicio Lines. Some wept as they waited for news.

"I'm very worried. I need to know what happened to my family," said Felino Farionin, his voice cracking. His wife, son and four in-laws were on the ferry, which was going from Manila to Cebu.

Some relatives were angry that the ship was allowed to leave Manila late Friday for a 20-hour trip with a typhoon approaching. The government ordered Sulpicio Lines to ground its other vessels pending an investigation into the accident and a check of the other ships' seaworthiness.

Sulpicio Lines said the ship sailed with coast guard approval. The company said it will give about $4,500 in compensation to relatives of each fatality, along with financial assistance to the survivors.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo talked to officials in a teleconference aired live on nationwide radio Sunday, scolding coast guard officials for allowing the ferry to leave Manila despite the bad weather.

Reynato Lanoria, a janitor on the ship, estimated about 100 people could have survived, "but the others were trapped inside."

"I think they are all dead by now," he told DZMM radio after making it to shore by jumping in the water and reaching a life raft.

Lanoria said he was on the top deck when a crew member ordered people to put on life vests around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. About 30 minutes later, the ship began tilting so fast that elderly people and children fell on the rain-slicked deck.

The ferry initially ran aground a few miles off central Sibuyan island Saturday, then capsized, said Mayor Nanette Tansingco of Sibuyan's San Fernando. With the upturned ferry visible from her town, she appealed for food, medicine and embalming fluid.

The nearly 24,000-ton ferry -- with 626 passengers and 121 crew members on board -- was "dead in the water" after its engine failed around noon Saturday, Tamayo said.

The storm stymied attempts to reach the ship and kept aircraft at bay on Saturday before shifting course Sunday to the northwest and battered Manila at dawn. Major streets were flooded, and numerous traffic lights were out.

In the central province of Iloilo, Gov. Neil Tupaz said 59 people drowned, with another 40 missing. "Almost all the towns are covered by water. It's like an ocean," Tupaz said.

[Associated Press; By PAUL ALEXANDER]

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Oliver Teves contributed to this report.

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