ORMOC CITY, Philippines — A body of a male toddler was found floating in the water near the public market here about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Coloy Tolibao, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) officer, said they would check if the body belonged to one of the missing passengers of MB Nirvana that sank last July 2 as it was leaving the port.
“We cannot confirm yet if it was boat sinking fatality. The autopsy results would show how many days the boy was dead,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
While there were families who claimed that their loved ones had not been found, authorities could not give a number of the missing passengers because the confirmed fatalities and survivors already exceeded the names on the passenger manifest.
The manifest showed 173 passengers on board the vessel when it capsized and sank a kilometer away from the pier.
But rescue groups pulled out 142 survivors and 61 bodies from the waters or a total of 203 passengers.
Bebot Itang, a laborer at the public market here, said they found the body of the boy between 2 and 3 years old about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday floating in the water near the market.
He said they immediately retrieved the boy who did not have any clothes. The body was later brought to the funeral parlor on board a vehicle owned by the Philippine Coast Guard. SFM