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| The damage to the cargo ship was clearly visible |
The ship carried 752 passengers and 118 crew members, according to the latest data from the Coast Guard.The incident occurred about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the coast.Second largest city in the country - The ferry was sailing to the port of Cebu, when it collided with a cargo ship traveling the other way around 21:00 local time (13:00 GMT)."The impact was very strong," Rachel Capuno, a spokesman for the ship's owner, told local radio.Survivors said hundreds of passengers were thrown into the sea when the ferry started on water and listing. The crew distributed lifejackets.Many of the passengers were asleep and others struggled to find their way in the dark, it was reported.A survivor, Jerwin Agudong he said, and other passengers jumped overboard in the front of the freighter."It seems that some people could not leave," said Mr. Agudong dzBB radio stations. "I feel sorry for the children. Saw corpses on the page and some saved."The ferry sank within 30 minutes after the crash, reports the AFP news agency.MapCoast Guard Rear Admiral Luis Tuason said Navy Divers recovered at least four more bodies from the wreckage early Saturday morning."There could be more but since his body had strings in our divers can get caught up in," he said.The Coast Guard sends more deep diving team to help, again the bodies, he said.Another Coast Guard official told reporters that the cargo ship, Sulpicio Express 7, 36 crew members on board, but had not decline.Passengers on the ferry had taken in the southern province of Agusan del Sur attack Nasipit.The Coast Guard and some trade boats were able to collect over 600 survivors.The 11,000 ton ferry was 40 years old, and is operated by a Chinese company called 2Go, reports the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head.The company was the largest shipping company in the Philippines, three years ago, after the merger of several smaller companies, adds our correspondent.Joy Villages, an official at the headquarters of the public affairs office of the Coast Guard in Manila, told the AFP news agency that it was too early to determine the cause of the collision Friday.She said that Thomas Aquinas, a "roll-on-roll-off" ferry that vehicles are driven on board and is commonly used in the Philippines, was allowed.Maritime accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of tropical climate, poorly maintained passenger boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations.World's worst peacetime maritime disaster occurred in the Philippines in December 1987. More than 4,000 people died when the ferry Dona Paz collided with a tanker.
