Twenty-eight passengers from a capsized passenger ferry were reported alive in the central Philippines on Monday but more than 800 remain missing after the ship sank during a typhoon.
The survivors made it to a small coastal village after drifting at sea for more than 24 hours in a rubber boat, radio dzBB reported. Two others originally on board the life raft drowned in large swells.
The discovery raises the number of survivors to 32. Four people were confirmed dead on Sunday.
More than 800 people were still missing after the MV Princess of Stars sank 3 km (2 miles) from Sibuyan island in the central Philippines as Typhoon Fengshen roared past.
Coast guard boats battling winds and high waves were scouring the area around the 23,824 gross tonne ferry and divers were expected to enter the vessel later. A helicopter and plane were also en route.
"We are checking whether there were people trapped inside the ferry," Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the head of coast guard, said. "We might have to drill holes so our divers can access it."
Typhoon Fengshen, with maximum gusts of 195 kph (120 mph), has killed at least 155 people in central and southern Philippines, with the western Visayas region, famed for its sandy beaches and sugar plantations, the worst affected.
It pounded the archipelago, damaging thousands of houses and displacing tens of thousands of people. Continued...
The survivors made it to a small coastal village after drifting at sea for more than 24 hours in a rubber boat, radio dzBB reported. Two others originally on board the life raft drowned in large swells.
The discovery raises the number of survivors to 32. Four people were confirmed dead on Sunday.
More than 800 people were still missing after the MV Princess of Stars sank 3 km (2 miles) from Sibuyan island in the central Philippines as Typhoon Fengshen roared past.
Coast guard boats battling winds and high waves were scouring the area around the 23,824 gross tonne ferry and divers were expected to enter the vessel later. A helicopter and plane were also en route.
"We are checking whether there were people trapped inside the ferry," Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the head of coast guard, said. "We might have to drill holes so our divers can access it."
Typhoon Fengshen, with maximum gusts of 195 kph (120 mph), has killed at least 155 people in central and southern Philippines, with the western Visayas region, famed for its sandy beaches and sugar plantations, the worst affected.
It pounded the archipelago, damaging thousands of houses and displacing tens of thousands of people. Continued...
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