9 saved from sunken ship

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Navy rescued nine passengers of a sunken cargo vessel yesterday morning after they drifted for days in the Sulu Sea, officials said, adding that search and rescue operations were continuing for dozens of others.

The survivors were among some 70 people who went missing when the wooden-hulled vessel ML Sugar Diane-Z sank Jan. 28 off Pangutaran Island, 50 nautical miles northwest of Sulu, when its engine failed amid rough weather.

Navy Lt. Rolito Rodriguez, operations chief of the Naval Forces South, said the survivors were fished out of the sea before noon yesterday and immediately rushed to a hospital in nearby Bongao island.

He said the Navy has widened its search for more survivors, even as they have yet to determine if there are females or minors among the rescued.

He said reports they received was that only 13 people were listed in the ML Sugar Diane-Z’s manifest, but the Armed Forces Southern Command indicated there were 70 people who boarded the ferry in Tawi-Tawi bound for Zamboanga City with its cargo of copra.

The excess passengers did not bother to register in the ship’s manifest.

The ill-fated cargo vessel was carrying 700 sacks of dried coconut meat or copra, when its engine sputtered and giant waves lashed its hull.