MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-four people on board the ill-fated passenger ferry Catalyn B may have been trapped inside the vessel after it smashed into a trawler off the coast of Limbones Island in Cavite, the Philippine Coast Guard said Friday.
Rescuers said they planned to spend 10 days searching for survivors and would also look into the fitness and discipline of the crew involved in the crash.
"I would say that we should stay there for about 10 days and then find out if we can be successful in (finding) the remaining unaccounted passengers," Coast Guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said in an interview.
Catalyn B, a flimsy, wooden vessel taking holidaymakers to their home village on a small island off the mouth of Manila Bay, smashed into Anathalia, a metal-hulled fishing boat, killing 3 people on Christmas eve. Forty-six survivors were fished out of the water on Thursday.
On Friday rescue boats combed sea waters of Bataan, Cavite and Batangas, hoping to find any sign that might point to the exact location of the missing ferry passengers. The PCG said some of the missing passengers may have been swept out to sea.
Some survivors warned that some of the missing could have been trapped inside the vessel, which the Coast Guard said sank in 67 meters (220 feet) of water within minutes of impact.
"Usually people can survive afloat for two to three days in Philippine waters," Ensign Jhoe Barbasa, a Coast Guard spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse
"But other factors also play a big role. Hunger, injuries or ailments, like hypertension, and the weather, can affect that window," she added.
Boat operations suspended
President Arroyo on Friday suspended operations of the boat owners, pending a full investigation of the ferry collision.
Since there were no reports of engine trouble or bad weather during the predawn collision, Tamayo said that "obviously" someone failed to observe nautical rules on rights of way, leading to the disaster.
"We're also looking at conditions of the watch at the navigating bridge -- whether the crew or the captain are in good physical condition, whether they (were) drunk or tired or maybe they were not awake at that time."
A formal inquiry will start "maybe in three or four days", he said.
Relatives of the missing passengers, meanwhile, spent Christmas at the PCG headquarters in Manila while waiting for news about the rescue efforts.
Ludy Magat, who has three relatives among those missing, could not help but cry over the fate of her relatives. “Ang hirap. Masakit, ‘di [namin] alam kung ano ang hinihintay namin," she said.
The relatives are requesting the PCG to send frogmen and find out if the missing people were indeed trapped inside Catalyn B.
The PCG, however, said they are focusing their efforts on searching for survivors first. It added that the Catalyn B is too deep for the PCG's divers.
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