Stormy weather forced Philippine rescuers to suspend a search Saturday for 171 people missing after a crowded ferry collided with a cargo ship and quickly sank, with 31 others confirmed dead.
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A Philippine navy boat guards a cargo ship with its bow
destroyed on August 17, 2013, after it collided with the ferry St Thomas
Aquinas the night before off the town of Talisay near the Philippines'
second largest city of Cebu. Philippine rescuers searched on August 17
for 171 people missing.
The St Thomas Aquinas ferry was carrying 831 passengers and crew when
the vessels smashed into each other late on Friday night in a dangerous
choke point near the port of Cebu, the Philippines' second-biggest
city, authorities said.
Coastguard and military vessels, as well
as local fishermen in their own small boats, frantically worked through
the night and Saturday morning to haul 629 people out of the water
alive.
But when bad weather whipped up the ocean mid-afternoon on
Saturday, authorities suspended the search with 171 people still
unaccounted for.
"It rained hard... with strong winds and rough seas," navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Gregory Fabic told AFP.
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