Cebu ship fatalities climb to 38 – PCG

Philippine Navy divers retrieve a body from the waters off the coast of Talisay city, Cebu province, in central Philippines Saturday Aug. 17, 2013, a day after a passenger ferry MV Thomas of Aquinas collided with a cargo ship Sulpicio Express Siete. AP

MANILA, Philippines – Deaths from the tragic ship collision off the Cebu port on Friday stood at 38 Sunday afternoon, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

Commander Armand Balilo, spokesperson of the PCG, told INQUIRER.net on Sunday that three more bodies were retrieved during the underwater search of the divers Sunday afternoon.

Figures of fatalities stood at 34 before Sunday noon.

Rescued passengers were at 750 and missing persons were at 82 as of 2:45p.m. One of the rescued passengers died, PCG records showed.

He said that more bodies could be inside the sunken MV St Thomas Aquinas, which was located about 150 feet below.

Technical divers went underwater for their second reconnaissance Sunday afternoon to put markers for their full retrieval operations on Monday.