Ferry With Hundreds Capsizes in Typhoon

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MANILA, Philippines (June 22) - Hundreds of passengers were feared trapped and may have died after their ferry capsized in the Philippines during Typhoon Fengshen, said two survivors who struggled to shore Sunday.

Huge Storm Lashes the Philippines
Residents wade through a flooded street in Manila, Philippines, June 22, 2008Bullit Marquez, AP

Residents wade through a flooded street in Manila Sunday. A rescue ship that eventually reached the ferry, which ran aground a few miles off central Sibuyan island, saw no sign of survivors amid the huge waves. Only four people that were aboard the ferry are known to have made it to land.

The storm left at least 155 dead, submerging entire communities and setting off landslides, said Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the national Red Cross, but there were concerns the death toll would jump dramatically.

The 72 people listed as missing did not include the more than 740 passengers and crew aboard the MV Princess of Stars, and worried relatives wept as they waited for news. Gordon said he has asked U.S. authorities for help in finding anyone who might still be alive inside the ferry and was told "they are going to try very, very hard."

A rescue ship battling huge waves and strong winds reached the ferry Sunday, one end jutting out of the water upside-down, more than 24 hours after it lost radio contact. There was no sign of survivors at the site, and only four people who were on board were known to have reached shore alive.

"They haven't seen anyone. They're scouring the area. They're studying the direction of the waves to determine where survivors may have drifted," coast guard spokesman Lt. Senior Grade Arman Balilo said.

Villagers found six bodies — including a man and a woman who had bound themselves together — along with children's slippers and life jackets that washed ashore nearby.

Officials were checking reports that a large number of survivors might have reached one nearby island and that a lift raft was spotted off another, coast guard spokesman Cmdr. Antonio Cuasito said.