Manila - The Philippines would no longer resume diving
operations to retrieve hundreds of bodies trapped in a ferry that
sank during a typhoon and would instead re-float the vessel, a
transportation official said Wednesday.
Transportation Undersecretary Elena Bautista said Sulpicio Lines,
the owner of the capsized MV Princess of the Stars, was now scouting
for a salvage company that specializes in re-floating ships to do the
job.
'We have made a decision that we will just re-float the ship
because this is the safest option,' she said.
Bautista, however, admitted that re-floating the ferry would
prolong the agony of family members waiting to recover the bodies of
their relatives that have been presumed dead and trapped inside the
ferry.
More than 550 people are still missing and presumed dead from the
sinking, the country's worst maritime disaster in two decades. Their
bodies are believed to be trapped inside the capsized vessel.
'Re-floating is not a fast process, it might take about two to
three months to re-float the vessel,' Bautista said. 'I hope the
people will understand this. But it is the best way to get all the
bodies out.'
Last week, the government halted diving operations at the
submerged wreckage to protect divers from possible contamination from
a cargo of highly toxic pesticide that the ferry was carrying when it
sank.
Doctors warned that the pesticide, endosulfan, attacks the nervous
central system and could kill humans.
While the waters in the area have tested negative for any
contamination, Bautista said experts warned that there were too many
risks in a previous plan to bore a hole on the side of the sunken
ferry to get the hazardous cargo.
'Even if we cut through the vessel, we are not sure if we will be
able to get the cargo,' she said.
The Princess of the Stars capsized off Sibuyan Island, 300
kilometres south of Manila, on June 21 when it sailed straight into
the path of Typhoon Fengshen while on a 22-hour journey from to the
central city of Cebu.
Only 56 survivors have been found after the accident, while 250
are confirmed killed after their bodies were recovered in nearby
waters or shores.
Interpol has dispatched a team to Cebu City, 585 kilometres south
of Manila, to help speed up the identification of recovered bodies,
many of which were already decomposing.
Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said refrigerated
containers, mobile forensic labs or work facilities and a victim
identification information center were needed to support
'state-of-the-art DNA analysis.'
'We and our member countries will find the money for the vital,
costly DNA examinations, and as part of these efforts it would be
greatly appreciated and helpful if Sulpicio Lines or any good
Samaritan provided us with the necessary work environment,' he said.
'There is only one goal - to ensure that the Disaster Victim
Identification teams and police are able to work under the conditions
that will assist the accurate and efficient identification of the
many victims of this tragedy,' he added.
Bautista said Sulpicio Lines has been told to choose before the
weekend the salvage company that would re-float the Princess of the
Stars.
'We will make sure that they will have a decision before the
weekend because we are running against time,' she added.
The Princess of the Stars was the fourth ship of Sulpicio Lines to
be involved in a major accident since 1987, when the company's MV
Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker just before Christmas, killing
4,341 people in the world's worst peacetime shipping disaster.
Aside from the ferry sinking, Typhoon Fengshen caused landslides,
massive floodings and other accidents that killed 540 people in the
Philippines, with 41 still missing. Authorities estimated the cost of
Fengshen's damages at nearly 10 billion dollars.
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