Several teams of divers are making huge efforts to retrieve dozens of bodies that were trapped inside the ferry boat which sank Saturday when Typhoon Fengshen struck the archipelago of Philippines. Unfortunately, the divers couldn’t recover anybody so far.
The local coast guard said about 100 Philippine and U.S. divers are struggling to remove the corpses from the upturned ferry. The vessel’s passageways are submerged and blocked with debris, which makes the divers’ mission extremely difficult.

At least 850 passengers were aboard the MV Princess of Stars when it went down near the central island of Sibuyan. Authorities said only 56 passengers have survived. About 124 bodies that were washed ashore ore were floating in the sea were recovered by officials. However, the number of bodies trapped in the vessel is unclear.

Just like on the Titanic, the vessel’s passengers and crew pushed and shoved for space on life-rafts just a few minutes before Princess of the Stars rolled over, according to the few survivors. After an hour or so, only the tip of the ship's bow remained above the water level.

Philippines authorities estimated the death toll from Typhoon Fengshen could reach the staggering number of 1,300. The number includes the passengers and crew of the capsized ferry.

Another controversial issue was the way authorities handled some of the dead bodies recovered so far. Some television footage showed rescue personnel dumping corpses from a truck into mass graves. Most of the bodies weren’t examined by forensic experts for possible identification.