Death toll from sunken ferry rises to 71

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–The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has plucked six more bodies Wednesday morning from sunken St. Thomas Aquinas ferry.

The death toll from the ship collision incident rose to 71.

“As of 8:30 a.m. on August 21, 750 passengers were rescued and 71 casualties recovered while 49 are still missing and subject for search and rescue operations,” the PCG said on its official Facebook page.

“The six cadavers recovered by the technical divers this morning were four adult females, one male child and one female child,” it said.

PCG Spokesman Armand Balilo said in a text message that the search and rescue operations were suspended 9 a.m. due to strong waves.

St. Thomas of Aquinas, owned by 2GO Travel, collided with cargo ship Sulpicio Express Siete of Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. (PSACC), formerly Sulpicio Lines Inc., off the coast of Cebu Friday night.

Aquinas, which was carrying 754 passengers and 116 crew members, sank while Express Siete’s remained afloat. All the cargo ship’s 36 crewmembers were safe.

Oil from the sunken vessel–estimated to be 20,000 liters of diesel fuel, 120,000 liters of bunker or crude oil and 20,000 liters of lube oi—leaked into the waters prompting Cordova town to declare a state of calamity.