By Xinhua,
Manila : There are “no signs of life” around a capsized passenger ferry off the Philippines’ central province of Romblon as rescuers started operations there, a spokesman for the Philippine Navy said on Monday.
Rescuers started their search at around 9 a.m. local time (0100GMT), knocking on the exposed part of the hull of the M/V Princess of the Stars to check if people were trapped inside, but there was no response, Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo told reporter.
“We approached the ship. We knocked on it (the hull) in order to give us a sign if ever somebody is inside, hoping someone would knock (from the inside). Unfortunately, there was none,” he said.
On its way from Manila to Cebu, the 23,000-ton ship with more than 700 people on board, was stalled due to engine failure and capsized in stormy waters amid the onslaught of typhoon Fengshen on Sunday.
Luis Tuason, chief of the Metro Manila Coast Guard said that it was unlikely that there were survivors trapped inside the ferry, since only 1/15 of the ship was above water.
“It’s not so high inside the ship,” Tuason told reporters, when asked for the chances of survival of the passengers and crew.
Tuason said there were greater chances for survival outside the ship, where survivors could have boarded life boats.
On Monday, 28 survivors on board a life boat were recovered in the country’s central Quezon province, while another fatality was found, bringing the number of survivors to 32, and the number of confirmed deaths to five.
Tuason said the M/V Princess was listed as having life boats enough for 1,992 people, but could not immediately confirm if all its lifeboats were on board at the time of the accident.
Two Navy patrol gunboats, a patrol ship, two helicopters, and a Navy Islander plane have been deployed to the site of the capsized ship, to augment Coast Guard vessels, local online news network Inquirer reported.
A U.S. Navy ship was also on its way from Okinawa, Japan to help in the search and rescue efforts, said National Disaster Coordinating Council Executive Director Anthony Golez.