Sulu ferry death toll soars to 139

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- At least 35 more bodies from the overloaded Annahada ferry tragedy in Sulu were recovered yesterday, raising the known death toll to 139, officials said.

Sulu police chief Candido Casimiro said 10 bodies were found at sea off the province of Tawi-Tawi, and 25 were found along Sulu coastal areas.

"We are waiting for the corpses so we can identify them and turn over the bodies to their families for burial," he said.

More than 200 people were aboard the Annahada when it capsized Wednesday off Sulu, although only nine crewmen and 11 passengers were listed in the manifest of the cargo vessel when it set sail.

A total of 79 survivors have been rescued. Rescuers continue to search for more survivors.

"We will not stop until we are convinced that there are no more bodies and missing passengers," Casimiro said, adding fishermen and Coast Guard personnel were involved in the search.

The Coast Guard said the 14.5-meter Annahada, bound for Sandakan in Malaysia, left Jolo harbor with only a handful of passengers and others were picked up from a small outrigger boats soon afterwards.

Three officers who inspected the vessel before it set sail have been fired and were being investigated.

Coast Guard officials in Manila said they were investigating accusations made by Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan that unauthorized passengers were allowed to board even before the Annahada set sail.

The boat's captain, Hadji Misuari, is among the missing, but police in Sulu believe he may have survived and gone into hiding to avoid homicide charges.

The boat's operator may also have been engaged in human smuggling and that bulk of the passengers aboard the vessel were allegedly job-seekers on their way to Malaysia, Tan said.

Tan called on the government to stop the illegal practice, noting it has grown rampant in recent years as leaving southern ports did not require work permits and travel documents.

About 300,000 Filipinos mostly from southern Philippine provinces are believed employed in Sabah, Malaysia as construction workers and plantation helpers, he said.

The Annahada capsizing is the latest in a string of maritime accidents to have hit this archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.

In December, the Asia-South Korea ferry sank in central Philippine seas, killing 44 Christmas holiday makers. Four months earlier, 51 people died when a ferry caught fire.

More than 4,000 people died when the overloaded ferry Doña Paz sank in the central Philippines after colliding with an oil tanker in December 1987, in what is considered the world's worst peacetime maritime tragedy. -- (AFP), With Roel Pareño