Divers found bodies in lifevests bobbing in airpockets of a giant sunken ferry in the Philippines on Tuesday, and an official said it would be a miracle if any of the hundreds of missing had survived. The MV Princess of the Stars had over 860 people on board when it ran aground and capsized in huge swells off the cost of Sibuyan island during a typhoon on Saturday. Fears of a massive oil spill have complicated efforts to recover bodies, officials said Tuesday. The ferry is sitting upside down on a coral reef off Sibuayn island with the bottom of the hull exposed above the water. There are also fears that hundreds more bodies may be trapped within the seven-story vessel after a handful of survivors said many people did not make it off in time. One spoke of children rolling around on the floor as the ship tilted. “They may have been caught wherever they were at the particular time that the vessel changed its position,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Edgard Arevalo, a navy spokesman. He said divers saw up to 15 bodies in one part of the ship. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has called on overseas Filipino workers and foreign donors to extend help to the thousands of Filipino families who were hit hard by a devastating typhoon which struck central Philippines, including the capital Manila, over the weekend. Speaking in a videoconference in Fresno, California on the first leg of her 10-day visit to the United States, Arroyo said Monday that she had directed Philippine embassies in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia to open disaster relief donation accounts where Filipino migrants and foreigners can send their financial assistance. “Now we have urgent needs again. A storm hit the Philippines and we are banking on the help of those willing to help, especially Filipinos,” Arroyo said. At the same time, Arroyo blasted Philippine maritime officials for their ignorance of safety rules that allowed the ill-fated ferry MV Princess of the Stars to sail despite the incoming typhoon. Retrieval efforts were hampered by a lack of search lights, the ship's large size and unstable condition. The United States has joined the massive search and rescue operations for survivors of the Princess of the Stars. A US Navy supply ship, the USN Stockham, with search and rescue helicopters aboard, is now proceeding to the Philippines from Okinawa, Japan to help in the rescue operations. Officials plan to bore a hole inside the vessel to retrieve more corpses. Drilling will have to be done cautiously because the ship, which is resting upside down with only the tip of its bow above water, is estimated to have around 100,000 litres of bunker fuel still on board. A slick of oil had formed around the ship, but local officials said it did not represent a leak. So far, 48 people have been found alive out of 865 passengers and crew on board and 70 bodies have been counted, the coast guard said. – With agencies __
