Bodies seen inside wreck of sunken boat in Cavite

Coast Guard personnel on Sunday located the wreckage of the ill-fated M/V Cathlyn-B, which sank off Cavite province before dawn on Christmas eve. In a text message, Coast Guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said at least 12 bodies, including those of two infants, were found trapped inside the wreckage. "But due to limited time . . . the trapped bodies inside the said vessel have not yet been recovered," he said, adding that operations would resume Monday. He said Coast Guard divers led by Capt. Matt Caldwell located the vessel at a depth of 221 feet, with its bow heavily damaged. "The vessel is on an upright position," he said.

Search and rescue operations have so far yielded three bodies, while 24 are still missing. Tamayo said they have shifted their efforts from search-and-rescue to search-and-retrieval. A total of 46 had been rescued from the incident. The wooden-hulled passenger sea vessel Cathlyn-B was carrying more than 70 people when it collided with fishing vessel Anatalya off Limbones Island in Cavite at 2:20 a.m., Thursday. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had already ordered the grounding of the fleets of San Nicolas Shipping Lines, the owner of Cathlyn-B. The Coast Guard will investigate the incident next year. It will seek to determine whether or not the crews of both ships followed maritime rules. Initial findings showed that Catalyn-B had right-of-way at the time of the incident, Tamayo said. - KBK, GMANews.TV