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The confirmed death toll from a ferry disaster in the Philippines rose to 64 on Tuesday as more bodies were found, some of them inside the sunken ship itself.
Boats searching nearby islands for survivors found only the dead, while divers pulled out more bodies from the waters off the central island of Cebu, where the St Thomas Aquinas ferry collided with a cargo ship on Friday night and quickly sank.

Many of the remaining 56 people still missing from the disaster are believed to have drowned with their bodies still trapped in the ship’s interior, Cebu coastguard commander Weniel Azcuna said.

“We found more bodies in nearby islands. We found around nine inside the vessel,” he said.
Strong currents and bad weather as well as the difficulty of reaching the sunken ferry, lying at a depth of about 30 metres has slowed down recovery efforts, he said.
But the divers will be back under water on Wednesday morning even as government boats and aircraft search the seas in hope of finding anyone either alive or dead, he said, adding: “We’re still optimistic. We’re not losing hope.”
Over 200 military, coastguard and police are also helping mop up a large oil spill that has leaked from the sunken ferry, polluting valuable mangroves, fishing grounds and popular beach resorts.


Death toll from Philippine ferry disaster rises to 64 

Filipino workers aboard a search and rescue vessel, spray oil dispersant chemical around the site where MV St Thomas Aquinas sank water off Cebu province, central Philippines. Photo: EPA

A local government worker collects debris on the oil slick-affected coast in Cordova, Cebu in central Philippines on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Death toll hits 38 in Philippines ferry disaster

Search and rescue operation in ferry collision. Photo: EPA

Oil leaks from submerged Philippine ferry

A Philippine Coast Guard rescue helicopter hovers over a search and rescue vessel around the site where the St Thomas Aquinas sank. Photo: EPA

Passengers recount horror of Philippine ferry sinking

A medic carries three-month-old Trisia Mae Kumaro after the rescue of her and her mother (right) on Friday. Photo: AFP

A survivor cries as he is comforted by a relative at the port in Cebu. Photo: EPA

Personnel from the Philippine navy retrieve the body of a drowned ferry passenger yesterday. Photo: EPA

Hundreds missing, 24 dead after Philippines ferry collides with cargo ship off Cebu

Rescued survivors of the ferry collision arrive at a port in Cebu city. Photo: AP

Survivors arrive at a hospital in Cebu. Photo: AFP

Survivors of the passenger vessel MV St Thomas Aquinas that sank after colliding with a cargo ship, are ferried to a hospital in Talisay, Cebu. Photo: Reuters

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