EMOTIONAL CATHOLIC MASS
A passenger picked up by a fishing boat and 28 others who landed at a small coastal village after drifting for more than 24 hours in a rubber boat, were the latest survivors from the Princess of Stars.
Fifteen people were reported dead.
Philippine transport authorities said on Monday they had grounded the vessels of ferry company Sulpicio Lines for inspection. The company's ships have been involved in three other major disasters over the past 21 years.
Distraught relatives of the 845-plus people on board the vessel complained to Sulpicio employees while waiting for news in the central city of Cebu, where the Princess of Stars was meant to dock.
"You can't bring our loved ones back. You should be held responsible," one woman told employees of the company.
A floor of the passenger terminal was converted into a mini chapel with a makeshift altar. Nuns and priests comforted those waiting.
During an emotional Catholic mass, one man pounded the wall in grief over his missing son.
Edward Go, one of Sulpicio's owners, said the company was relying on the coast guard for information.
"We fully understand the feelings of the people and we are prepared to help them in any way we can, but, as of now there is really no information available," he told Reuters.
The Red Cross' Gordon said a survivor described mountainous waves and chaos as the ship went down on Saturday afternoon.
"According to him it was so dark, it was high noon but it was so dark, and there was too much rain and the waves were just too much for the ship," Gordon said.
In 1987, the Sulpicio-owned Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker killing more than 4,000 people in the world's worst peacetime sea tragedy.
An archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines is hit by an average of 20 typhoons a year and has a long history of shipping tragedies.
