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Manila: Divers found 14 more disintegrating bodies on Monday - raising to 37 the total number of bodies recovered since Sunday - leaving 480 more to be recovered from an ill-fated ferry that sank with 864 passengers and crew on board during a typhoon in central Philippines four months ago, a senior official said.
"We did not get 20 to 30 bodies this day as targeted earlier. We have to fast-track the recovery operation. There is a storm coming. In two weeks, we should know if we succeeded in getting all the remains of some 515 missing passengers of the M/V Princess of the Stars," said Coast Guard commandant, Vice-Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo.
Immediately after Typhoon Fenghsen on June 21, some 350 bodies were recovered near the ship that floated upturned in Sibuyan Sea. Only 57 survived the sea tragedy.
"The skies were getting dark, foreboding a storm when the divers entered the innermost sections of the ship's cabins, including public areas such as dining rooms and kitchens in the upper class section of the ship," said Tamayo, adding the divers were also told to scour all wash rooms in the ship. Earlier, most of the bodies were found at the ship's economy section.
"The big body bags that the divers brought up from under the sea contained remains that were in an advanced state of decomposition. The divers were not lucky in getting bodies that were intact," said Cecil Chen, the Coast Guard commander in southern Luzon.
"We are undertaking a proper decontamination process to protect the divers from being contaminated by diseases. The divers are exposed to the health hazards coming from the cadavers' advanced state of decomposition," said Chen.
TV reports showed zipped up body bags with labels as to where the remains were taken from the ship.
They were loaded into a waiting ship, Tacloban Princess, that was provided by Sulpicio Lines, the owner of the ill-fated ship. Remains were brought to nearby Cebu City for DNA tests.
Rescue station planned
A memorial park and a high-tech search and rescue station will be built in a town in central Philippines to honour recent victims of a sea mishap and to prevent the recurrence of disasters there, a local paper said.
A memorial marker will rise on the coast of San Fernando town in Romblon province to honour some 807 people who perished, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant, Vice-Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, told the Star.
With inputs by Rafael Juan, Correspondent
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