ILOILO CITY, Philippines - Irene Samis, 84, lost most of her belongings when she jumped from the SuperFerry 9 shortly before the ship sank off the coast of the Zamboanga Peninsula Sunday morning.

But her small black leather purse never left her side from the time she and a grandson left their economy section bunks around 3 a.m. until they jumped from the ship and were picked out from the waters by a Navy rescue boat.

"I only have P5 inside my bag but the pictures of my grandchildren are inside and I did not want to lose them," she told the Inquirer at the passenger lounge of the Iloilo port on Monday where the first batch of 47 survivors from the ill-fated ship where taken shortly after they arrived from Bacolod City.

Her right hand was wrapped in a bandage to cover a wound she incurred when she lost her grip on a rope while climbing down from the ship.

Samis, a resident of Maasin town in Iloilo, said her bag also contained her handkerchief and a rosary, which she held on as she continued praying when the passengers started to leave the ship.

"People around us were crying and screaming but I tried to keep silent and just prayed. I don't know how to swim but I wasn't that afraid. I was more afraid of the Japanese soldiers during the war," she said while resting at the passenger lounge.

She recalled holding on to her grandson Glene Bermejo as they inched their way from their bunks toward the side of the ship and stood on the outer side of the tilting ship before climbing down through a rope.

"It was very hard holding to the rope but I did not want to let go," she said.

Bermejo, 31, said they were roused from sleep around 2 a.m. on Sunday by a loud rumbling sound and realized that the ship had already tilted sharply.

He ran to get life jackets and went to the deck with his grandmother. Moments later, the crew started assisting passengers to abandon the ship.

But the ordeal for some of the survivors continued.

Eufemia Orbina, 64, was still waiting for word of her husband Paterno after they got separated when they left the ship.

The 47 survivors were taken to the passengers lounge at the Iloilo port in Fort San Pedro by WG&A officials where they were given food and they underwent a medical checkup by Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) personnel.

Joel Ybañez, area manager of the Aboitiz Company, said another batch of survivors on board the SuperFerry 1 was expected to arrive Iloilo Monday afternoon or early Tuesday.

Ybañez said they would extend financial and medical assistance to all the rescued passengers. They will shoulder lodging and food accommodations as well as transportation to the passengers' residence.

The passengers only suffered minor injuries like cuts, scratches and chaffing due to the wearing of life jackets, according to PNRC Officer-In-Charge Maricel Linga.

"There are no signs of trauma or shock," she said.

But a two-month-old Raymond Tirado of Duenas town in Iloilo was taken to a hospital because of high fever.