Divers found ghostly white bodies floating head up inside a sunken passenger ferry in the central Philippines on Tuesday raising fears of a mass grave below the waves.
The MV Princess of the Stars had over 800 people on board when it capsized and flipped over in huge swells off the cost of Sibuyan island during a typhoon on Saturday.
There are fears that hundreds more bodies may be trapped within the 23,824 tonne vessel.
Two bloated male corpses were cut free from a tangle of cables and brought to the surface. One, believed to be a crew member, had a radio.
"It will be a miracle if we find survivors," Lieutenant Commander Inocencio Rosario of the coast guard said.
Officials plan to bore a hole inside the vessel to retrieve more corpses.
Drilling will have to be done cautiously because the ship, which is resting upside down with only the tip of its bow above water, is estimated to have around 100,000 litres of bunker fuel still on board.
A slick of oil had formed around the ship, but local officials said it did not represent a leak.
Residents from nearby Sibuyan island gathered along the shoreline to watch the grim retrieval operation. The smell of diesel hung in the air.
Earlier, a helicopter from U.S. military ship, the USNS Stockham, spotted 12 bodies floating near Masbate island, at least 70 km east of Sibuyan, local radio reported. It was unclear if they were from the Princess of the Stars.
So far only around 33 people have been found alive out of 864 passengers and crew on board.
SHIPPING TRAGEDIES
