Philippines launches inquiry into ferry disaster

Updated June 26, 2008 04:55:36

The tip of the upturned hull of the sunken ferry protrudes from waters off Sibuyan island. [AFP]

The Philippines has launched an inquiry into a ferry disaster, which is now believed to have killed 800 people.

More than 100 US and Philippine divers continue to comb the wreckage of the 24,000-tonne Princess of the Stars, but there remains little hope of finding anyone alive.

The ferry capsized on Saturday in waters off the central island of Sibuyan as Typhoon Fengshan tore through the region.

Navy spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo, says "there are no signs of life" in the wreckage.

Rescuers say anyone who had managed to find air pockets in the ship would have suffocated by now.

According to civil defence figures, only 57 people survived the tragedy out of more than 850 people on board, making it one of the worst maritime disasters in the South East Asian country's history.

President Gloria Arroyo in a statement from Washington, where she is on an official visit, says the ferry company is being held accountable.

She says an inquiry will try to determine how the tragedy occurred "so we can take steps to make sure it never happens again."

Coastguard spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo, says ferry operator, Sulpicio Lines, as well as maritime experts, have been summoned to the inquiry, which aims to determine whether the ship was seaworthy and why it was allowed to leave port during a typhoon.