Few survivors found after ferry capsizes in Philippines

Twenty-eight people washed ashore, raising the number of survivors to 38, but the fates of hundreds of people aboard a ferry that capsized during Typhoon Fengshen in the Philippines remained unknown Monday.

Worried relatives who gathered at the offices of the company in charge of operating the ferry wept as they awaited news of more than 740 passengers and crew aboard the MV Princess of Stars.

Twenty-eight people including four crew members reached Mulanay township in eastern Quezon province late Sunday after drifting at sea for more than a day in a life raft. Ten others who survived reached nearby Crista de Gallo island earlier.

The ferry, heading to the central province of Cebu from Manila, ran aground and capsized on Saturday a few kilometres off central Sibuyan island in the centre of the country's archipelago.

The coast guard was unable to reach it because of huge swells caused by Typhoon Fengshen, which began lashing the central Philippines late Friday.

There are reports that crowded life rafts sank in the stormy seas.

Coast guard spokesman Cmdr. Antonio Cuasito said several divers swam to the ship on Sunday and knocked on the hull with metal instruments, but there was no response.

He said the search-and-rescue operation was suspended for the night because of big waves. If weather permits, the crew will try to get inside the vessel on Monday, Cuasito said.

The Red Cross said the storm has killed 137 people. Earlier, the group gave a higher estimate of 155, but later revised the number, saying some bodies had been counted twice.

Among the hardest-hit cities is Iloilo, where about 100 people died after the area was hit by flash flooding. The navy was using rubber boats to rescue some people who were stranded on the roofs of their houses.

The typhoon shifted course Sunday to the northwest and battered Manila at dawn.

Sustained winds of 120 km/h and gusts reaching 150 km/h downed trees and power lines in and around the capital. Heavy rains flooded roads and highways and triggered landslides.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who left for the United States late Saturday, scolded coast guard officials for allowing the ferry to leave Manila late Friday despite the bad weather.

Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he was praying for the victims of the ferry disaster, particularly the large number of children aboard. The Philippines is predominantly Catholic.

The typhoon-prone Philippines was the site of the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster when the ferry MV Dona Paz sank in 1987, killing more than 4,341 people.