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SAN FERNANDO (Philippines) - AN INTERNATIONAL salvage team was to arrive late on Sunday in the Philippines to remove toxic cargo from a sunken ferry so divers could recover hundreds of bodies, an official said.
The plan is to bore a hole in the hull of the sunken Princess of the Stars to remove containers containing 10 tonnes of endosulfan pesticide so that the recovery of bodies can continue.
The 24,000-tonne vessel is sitting upside down on a reef off the central island of Sibuyan, with part of its hull jutting from the waters.
Only 57 survivors have been found, along with 161 bodies, many of them having washed ashore to nearby islands.
It is believed that most of the dead are trapped inside the hull.
The ferry carrying about 850 people on board was sunk by Typhoon Fengshen eight days ago, but the already slow-moving rescue operation was suspended on Friday after it emerged the vessel was carrying containers of pesticide.
Philippine coast guard and navy divers, assisted by US navy frogmen, were immediately pulled out the water amid growing fury among relatives of the dead at the slow pace of the operation.
'We will commence cutting of the hull tomorrow (Monday),' coast guard chief Wilfredo Tamayo told reporters.
'They will be here before dark' on Sunday, he added without naming the salvage outfit hired from Singapore.
The removal of the containers should be completed by Wednesday, after which the salvage company hired by the ferry's operators would study the removal of the fuel on board, he added.
It was not clear when the grim search for bodies would continue.
Authorities had belatedly learnt that the ferry had been illegally carrying large volumes of the toxic pesticide that might leak into the water.
Tamayo said Sulpicio Lines, the ferry operator, and the authorities have studied but ruled out refloating the vessel for the time being.
'That option has been considered earlier but it was deemed that the cutting of a hole in the vessel is more appropriate at this time,' Tamayo said.
A maritime industry official said on Saturday that Sulpicio Lines would be unable to claim full damages from insurers if the boat was refloated.
Sulpicio Lines has had at least three other major accidents since 1987, when its Dona Paz vessel collided with an oil tanker, killing around 4,000 people in the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history.
The government has suspended the company's operations until further notice.
A board of inquiry was also conducting hearings on the company's possible liability. -- AFP
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