Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) — A crew member’s body was pulled from a submerged ferry in Ormoc City, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Saturday morning, while authorities also launched search and rescue operations for missing fishermen in the waters off the Visayas.
The body was retrieved from a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) vessel that figured in an accident at the port of Ormoc City.
In a statement, the PCG said the victim—a female purser aged 33 years old—found under several pieces of cargo carried by the MV Lite Ferry 3.
“There were no passengers on board the vessel but was loaded with cargo,” Danilo Lines Inc., owner of the vessel, said in a Facebook post.
The distressed ship had a total of 16 crew members, 15 of them were successfully rescued shortly after the ferry sank while conducting a docking maneuver at Ormoc Port late Friday night.
The PCG is still investigating the cause of the maritime incident.
In a separate update, the PCG said search and rescue operations for nine crew members of FV St. Peter The Fisherman II are ongoing.
The missing crew includes the captain of the fishing boat, the coast guard said.
The vessel sank between the waters off Tanguingui Island in northern Cebu and Gigantes Island in Iloilo on Friday.
On Friday afternoon, its sister vessel FV Old Man and The Sea successfully rescued 22 of the 31 crew members.
Based on one of the survivors’ accounts, the PCG said the boat encountered strong winds and big waves at 1 a.m. on Friday while conducting fishing operations.
Health personnel from Cadiz City provided medical treatment to the survivors. The PCG ensured that the fishermen were in good physical condition before they were transported back to their respective families.
As of past 7 p.m., Coast Guard spokesperson Armand Balilo said there were still no signs of the passengers even through helicopter inspection.
“We are also checking from the survivors the possibility that the missing fishermen were trapped inside the sunken motorboat,” Balilo said.
He added that PCG personnel will continue to scour the waters but the helicopter search will have to resume on Sunday.
