MORE bodies were seen by divers inside the wreckage of a passenger ferry that sank some 130 feet deep after a collision with a cargo ship Friday night at the mouth of a port in Cebu, official said Sunday.
The ship, M/V St. Thomas Aquinas carrying more than 800 passengers and crew sank 30 minutes after colliding with M/V Sulpicio Express Siete about two kilometers off a port in Talisay City, Cebu.
Lt. Commander Noel Escalona, operations officer of naval forces central said that they are now preparing to shift from search and rescue to retrieval operations.
“Our focus now is underwater retrievals, but, search and rescue will continue on the surface… Hopefull tomorrow full retrievals,” Escalona told defense reporters in a phone patched briefing.
The navy official said that two bodies have been retrieve by divers from the wreckage of the ship early Sunday while divers were conducting a dive recon.
“We are ironing out the points of entry and points of exit, we putting in place the baloons for retrieving of body and hopefully tomorrow full retrievals,” Escalona said.
The navy official said that their divers will go down again to recon inside the ship’s wreckage and conduct assessment of the situation.
“So hopefully, we can place the markers and the tomorrow it will be full retrieval.. Our divers initial assessment that its still dangerous,” Escalona said.
The navy official said careful planing and preparation are needed since the ship wreckage lies some 130 feet deep below the surface.
“If more than 100 feet, we need special skills, special kinds of oxygen… Decompression tank, so need extreme training to deep dive,” Escalona said.
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