MANILA: Eleven more bodies were pulled from waters off the southern Philippines on Thursday, the coast guard said, days after a ferry capsized and threw hundreds of people into the sea.
The discovery brought the confirmed death toll to 29, officials said in a statement, three days after the MV Trisha Kerstin 3 went down off southwestern Mindanao in the early hours of Monday.
The ferry was carrying at least 344 passengers and crew, most of whom were rescued in the immediate aftermath.
Rescuer Yushrina Julkanain told AFP on Thursday the latest casualties had mostly been found in the vicinity of Baluk-Baluk Island, near where the ferry sank.
“They have been turned over to the coast guard,” she said, adding that some had been discovered by fishermen.
A video uploaded to Facebook and verified by AFP showed a fisherman pulling a victim, still wearing her life jacket, from the water with a hook.
Another video showed what appeared to be a small child.
The confirmation of 11 new victims has thrown into confusion estimates of the number aboard the ferry when it sank.
A previous tally had placed the number of people missing at 10, including the ship’s captain, eight crew members and a safety marshal.
Philippine Coast Guard spokeswoman Captain Noemie Cayabyab told a local radio station the number of missing was now uncertain.
“Initially, the reported number of missing was 10 based on the (ship’s) manifest,” she said.
“However, we have received information from people that their loved ones are among the missing.”
Divers flown in from Manila arrived at the site on Wednesday to assist in the recovery efforts. An unmanned vehicle was first deployed to pinpoint the location of the wreckage.
The ship is understood to be lying at a depth of approximately 76 metres (250 feet).
The Philippines grounded the passenger fleet of the ferry’s operator, Aleson Shipping Lines, on Tuesday pending what was described as a “full-blown investigation”.
One of the ship’s survivors described scenes of panic in the moments before the ship sank, with terrified passengers racing to one side of the listing vessel in a bid to rebalance it.
“No one from the crew alerted us,” 53-year-old lawyer Aquino Sajili told AFP, adding he believed it was likely that passengers would file a lawsuit against the shipping company.
