5 more bodies from sunken ship recovered
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:12:00 07/16/2008
LEGAZPI CITY – Five more decomposing bodies, believed to be those of victims of the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars, turned up in Sorsogon and were buried there, the Bicol Coast Guard reported Tuesday.
The bodies were recovered following search and retrieval operations in the villages of Pilar and Donsol towns on Monday, said Ensign Jeffrey Collado, Philippine Coast Guard-Bicol operations assistant.
The body of an unidentified male and the body of a female wearing white short pants, a pink T-shirt and a white undershirt were retrieved in seawaters off San Antonio village in Pilar town.
Due to their state of decomposition, the bodies were buried at the Interfaith Cemetery in Santa Fe village, also in Pilar.
On Monday noon, two more unidentified male bodies were retrieved off Sibago Village in Donsol town. One was decapitated, wearing a life jacket from the MV Princess of the Stars, a blue T-shirt with “P1-GA” printed on the back and blue shorts. The two bodies were buried in the village.
In the afternoon, another male body, wearing a life jacket from the ill-fated ship, was recovered off the waters of Ogod Village, also in Donsol. The body was identified as that of Jonathan Calayog, 42, from Cainta, Rizal. He was also buried in the village.
In the same afternoon, the PCG delivered 11 retrieved bodies from different villages in Ligao City and Oas town in Albay province, to Pasacao Port in Camarines Sur province.
Sulpicio Lines had sent the MV Cebu Princess to Pasacao to pick up the bodies being recovered across the Bicol region.
Six of the bodies were female and five were male. They were all wearing life jackets marked “MV Princess of the Stars,” except for a male who was wearing a sweatshirt and a belt buckle bearing the Philippine Coast Guard logo.
The body, believed to be that of a PCG sea marshal, was turned over to the nearest funeral parlor for identification, but the rest of the bodies were turned over to the crew of the MV Cebu Princess, still currently docked at the Pasacao pier.
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