More bodies found from Philippine typhoon, U.S. vows aid

By Romeo Ranoco

SIBUYAN ISLAND, Philippines (Reuters) - Some 50 bodies were found 100 km (60 miles) from a giant capsized ferry in the Philippines on Wednesday, and Washington said it would send an aircraft carrier to help with typhoon relief efforts.

Typhoon Fengshen tore into the centre of the country at the weekend, toppling the MV Princess of the Stars, with 865 passengers and crew on board, as well as a coal tanker and eight fishing vessels, and displaced hundreds of thousands.

The overall death toll from the sixth typhoon to hit the Philippines this storm season could reach around 1,100, while the damage bill to homes, bridges and roads has been put at nearly 1 billion pesos ($22.4 million).

The United States pledged to send an aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, to aid in the relief effort in the storm battered archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.

U.S. navy divers from the USNS Stockham are already helping their Philippine counterparts comb the seven-storey vessel where hundreds are still feared trapped.

"They saw a lot of bodies down below but these have decomposed already," said Lieutenant Commander Inocencio Rosario.

"We need to use weights on the bodies so we could pull them out of the holes of the ship and when we have taken them out, we will take off the weights so that the bodies would float to the surface."

So far, 48 people are known to have survived the tragedy but hopes of finding more alive are dim.

One survivor said there was a near stampede in the economy cabins when the captain ordered people to abandon ship. Passengers jostled one another to make it to the upper deck and many women and children were left stranded.

"About 400 people were able to leave the ship, some in life rafts but most jumped to the water leaving their fate to God like me," Jesse Buot said.

On Wednesday, about 50 bodies were found floating around 100 km (60 miles) north of the Princess of the Stars but Lieutenant-Colonel Edgard Arevalo could not yet confirm if they were from the ferry.

The retrieval operation is precarious. The ferry's stern off the central island of Sibuyan is wedged on a rocky ledge and strong waves could cause it to slide down.

BODY BAGS NEEDED

Rescuers, meanwhile, are running short of body bags and formaldehyde.

"Right now, what our navy personnel are using to control the smell is gin," said Arevalo.