5 bodies recovered in Cebu but not yet in mishap death toll

MANILA, Philippines - Five bodies were retrieved Friday morning off an islet in Cordova town, Cebu but they have yet to included in the death toll from a ship collision last week.

Lt. Jim Alagao, Central Command spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said in a state news agency report that the discovery was made around 7 a.m.

He said that the bodies were immediately recovered and put aboard a pumpboat and taken to the Talisay City Fishport to determine if they are passengers or crewmen of the ill-fated M/V St. Thomas Aquinas.

The said ship sank last August 16 after a collision with the M/V Sulpicio Express 7.

Alagao said that the bodies will not yet be added to the official fatality count of 76.