MANILA, Philippines -- At least 14 bodies floating at sea and believed to be from the capsized M/V Princess of the Stars, were recovered
off Burias Island in Masbate by Navy search teams Wednesday, a
spokesman for the Philippine Navy said Thursday.

And today, the Navy ship BF352 is headed back to Burias Island to recover two more bodies, a male and a female whose hands were tied together, leading rescuers to believe that the two were a couple, said Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo.

On Wednesday, the Navy Patrol Ship 28 recovered three bodies on the shore of Palana point in Burias Island, then sailed 14 nautical miles west to recover seven more, Arevalo said in a phone interview.

The BF352 recovered four bodies, two males and two
females, from Colorado Point on Wednesday, the Navy spokesman said.

The floating bodies were spotted by the P3 Orion, a US military
surveillance plane. Arevalo said.

Estimates of the number of bodies floating off the coasts of Masbate, Camarines Sur, and Quezon vary. The Coast Guard placed it at 87 while
Transportation undersecretary Maria Elena Bautista placed it at 115.

Arevalo said the bodies were located at a distance from each other,
and the Navy ships had to sail from one location to another. A rubber
boat was used to fish out the remains and board them on the
ship.

"Just to give the proper perspective, when seen by Orion from above, based on the height, it looked like the dead bodies are near each other in a small location, but on the ground, the bodies are scattered," the spokesman said.

"You have to pick up one after the other, that's why the retrieval is not that fast," he said.

Quoting rescuers' accounts, Arevalo said: "Kahapon, kakargahin mo yung patay halos nalalasog na yung katawan [Yesterday, we carried bodies that were falling apart]."

A helicopter dropped cadaver bags for the search teams on Wednesday, but Arevalo said these were not enough.

"We need more cadaver bags, apog [lime], formalin, hand gloves, and face masks, not just surgical masks, because the odor penetrates it," he said.

The M/V Princess of the Stars, carrying 862 passengers and crew, capsized in rough waters off Sibuyan Island in Romblon province amid the onslaught of typhoon "Frank" (international codename: Fengshen) last Saturday.

As of the last official count on Tuesday, the Coast Guard confirmed 48 survivors and 70 casualties, three of which were recovered from the ship and the rest in surrounding coastal provinces.