CORRECTED-Philippines halts ferry salvage after pesticide scare

(Corrects figure in fourth paragraph to 25 kg from 45 kg)

MANILA, June 27 (Reuters) - Salvage divers halted operations on a capsized ferry in the Philippines on Friday after it was discovered the vessel had a cargo of toxic pesticide.

Hundreds of corpses are believed trapped in the seven-storey Princess of the Stars, which ran aground and flipped over with 865 passengers and crew on board during Typhoon Fengshen on Saturday.

"We recalled the divers for the moment. They will wait for advice from Manila on what to do next," said Elena Bautista, the head of a taskforce dealing with the aftermath of the disaster.

"We have a copy of the storage plan so we know the exact location of the 40-foot container containing 400 boxes, each with 25 kg (55 pounds) each, so this is what we are looking for."

Officials said the pesticide was endosulfan, which is highly toxic.

"Once we are told where we can bore a hole to retrieve the container, hopefully if we can start, we can start retrieval operations tomorrow afternoon," said Bautista.

The Princess of the Stars sinking is likely to become the Philippines's biggest shipping disaster since the Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker in 1987, killing more than 4,000 people.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and David Fox)