Bodies trapped inside sunken M/V Catalyn B feared washed out to South China Sea

MANILA, Jan. 3 –The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Sunday expressed fears that some of the bodies earlier seen trapped inside the sunken M/V Catalyn B might have been washed out by underwater currents to the South China Sea.

The PCG retrieval team, in cooperation with American expert diver, Mathew Cadwell, who holds the rank of captain in the PCG Auxillary, spotted 12 bodies, including two children, that were trapped in different areas on the ship's deck on Dec. 28.

Of the 12, Caldwell only retrieved two bodies on Saturday. They were identified as belonging to Alex Masangkay and Lea Ann Tejoso, 23.

The number of fatalities is now five with 22 still missing and 46 survivors.

“The first time Capt. Caldwell dived, he saw 12 bodies. He circled the submerged vessel twice. But when he returned on Saturday, he did not saw the two children and four adults," Commodore Luis Tuason Jr., PCG-National Capital Region-Central Luzon (NCR-CL) district commander, said.

Tuason also said that Caldwell saw changes in the arrangement inside the ship, and this could be attributed to the underwater current.

“There is a possibility that the bodies which Caldwell earlier saw might have been washed out to the South China Sea,” he said.

He said that if there were buoyant force that might have elevated the bodies from the floor, then the bodies might be carried out of the ship.

However, Tuason gave another possible scenario. “Still it is also possible that the bodies were still on board the ship and that they were only buried under the debris.

“There could be some bodies tucked away so don’t lose hope,” Caldwell told the families of the missing passengers.

M/V Catalyn B, owned and operated by San Nicolas Shipping Lines, sank off Limbones Island on Dec. 24, 2009 after colliding with fishing boat F/V Anatalia. It now lies at 221 feet below the sea. (PNA) RMA/JES

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