Ferry capsizes in Philippines; dozens dead | TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune

Divers stopped their search as the seawaters became turbulent, and the seabed grew murky due to bad weather from unleash deadly floods and landslides. The search was continuing into the night, Balilo said. “The only ones that the rescuers have found recently are the dead, already bloated and stiff”, said Edcas, speaking as a coastguard boat docked carrying a bloated corpse clad only in a pair of jean shorts.

Within seconds, the boat overturned, many passengers screaming in panic, he said.

Rhome Nuttall, who helps run a medical mission in the Philippines, told CNN that the boat was “very crowded”.

To those who made it back to shore, Red Cross personnel were on hand giving out meals and blankets to the survivors.

Last September, at least three people died and more than 100 people were rescued after a ferry sank in waters off Panaon Island in the Southern Leyte province after it was hit by huge waves during bad weather.

They are ready with food packs and burial assistance for the victims. “There wasn’t any storm or any gale”.

120-c-18-(Oliver Teves (TEH’-vehs), AP correspondent)-“at that time”-AP correspondent Oliver Teves reports coast guard officials and survivors said it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the 36-ton ferry to overturn””.

The Kim Nirvana had just left the port of Ormoc in the central Visayas region on Thursday when it turned on one side.

At the port, 10-year-old Gilbert de la Cruz kept his eyes fixed on the partially submerged wooden hull where his mother, eight-year-old sister and one-year-old brother were believed trapped.

Rescue officials later revised the total to 35 people confirmed dead and 20 others missing.

Lawrence Drake, a retired American fireman from Rochester New York, said that as the ferry started to tilt, he ran to one side of the boat to try to balance it but it was too late.

“We will get to the bottom of this and make sure that this does not happen again”, he said.

Numerous passengers were traders bringing farm produce and other merchandise to the Camotes islands whose residents rely mostly on fishing, Tolibao added. Investigators say they’ll be looking at the handling of the vessel, and whether it was stable.

De la Cruz said he survived by clinging to empty water drums that kept him afloat until the coast guard rescued him. “I am alive because I jumped overboard as soon as it happened”, Manza told reporters. “I think that was cargo that shifted and that caused the boat to flip”, Nuttall said.