Manila - More than 1,300 people are dead or missing in the
Philippines due to accidents caused by typhoon Fengshen,
including the sinking of a passenger ferry, the Office of Civil
Defence (OCD) said Saturday.
A total of 713 people were killed during Fengshen's onslaught last
week, while 674 are missing, the OCD said.
Most of the fatalities drowned in floods and sea accidents. They
included at least 173 people who were aboard the MV Princess of the
Stars when it capsized off Sibuyan Island, 300 kilometres south of
Manila, on June 21.
Only 56 survivors have been recovered from the sinking of the
Princess of the Stars, while more than 630 people are still missing
and feared dead in one of the worst maritime tragedies in the
Philippines.
The OCD said 41 people were also reported missing in other
accidents throughout the country.
Search and retrieval operations for the hundreds still missing in
the sinking of the Princess of the Stars remained suspended on
Saturday as authorities focused on removing a large shipment of
highly toxic pesticides from the submerged ferry.
The retrieval operations were halted on Friday due to concerns
that more than 100 Filipino and US divers were being exposed to
endosulfan, a restricted pesticide that can cause death or attack the
central nervous system.
Water samples taken from the area have so far tested negative for
endosulfan, Philippine Vice President Noli De Castro said.
De Castro said divers have been cleared to go into the water to
retrieve the hazardous shipment from the Princess of the Stars.
'We need to remove the endosulfan first because the powder could
melt in the water and the destruction might go beyond (the area),' he
said.
Transportation Undersecretary Elena Bautista said the retrieval of
bodies trapped in the sunken vessel would resume after the toxic
chemicals are removed.
'Once the endosulfan is removed, that's the only time the search
operations for bodies can be resume,' she said.
Maritime authorities have began an investigation into the
accident, while all remaining vessels of Sulpicio Lines, which owns
the sunken ferry, have been grounded.
The Princess of the Stars was the fourth Sulpicio Lines ship to
sink since 1987 when its passenger ferry Dona Paz collided with an
oil tanker just before Christmas, killing 4,341 people in the world's
worst peacetime shipping disaster.
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