Rescuers search for survivors at the site of the capsized passenger ferry off Ormoc City, central Philippines on July 2, 2015. (Agence France-Presse)
The death toll from the Philippines' ferry disaster rose to 41 Friday as rescuers brought more bodies ashore to anguished families, including 10-year-old survivor Gilbert de la Cruz who wailed in despair as the corpse of his one-year-old brother was recovered.
Divers were searching for five people still missing after the Kim Nirvana carrying 173 passengers and 14 crewmen capsized as it was leaving Ormoc port in the central Philippines on Thursday.
Crowds of anxious relatives waited at the port as divers manoeuvred their inflatable boats through the choppy waters to the upturned hull of the ferry, its brightly painted orange and green bow just poking above the surface.
As de la Cruz embraced his distraught father, hopes were fading that the boy's mother and sister could be still alive trapped in the hull.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told reporters 141 survived, including all the crew, while five others were missing.
Abaya said government investigators would summon the crew to determine the cause of the accident.
"We will get to the bottom of this and make sure that this does not happen again," he said.
The ship was on its regular run to the Camotes island group, about an hour's sailing away when it capsized.
Survivors have recounted how the 33-tonne vessel was backing out of the port when it suddenly overturned, giving them no chance to put on life jackets.
De la Cruz said he survived by clinging to empty water drums that kept him afloat until the coast guard rescued him.
The 10-year-old said he was standing near the deck when it tilted, allowing him to jump into the water, but he was unable to look behind him to see if his family had also escaped.
"I'm very sad because I don't know if they are still alive," he said before his youngest brother's remains were brought to shore.
"I am never riding a boat again," he told AFP, as he was comforted by his aunt whose eyes were swollen from crying.
'We're losing hope'Nicasia Degesica, a 57-year-old seamstress, waited at the port for news of her elder sister, Erlinda Rosales, while other distraught relatives checked hospitals and morgues for their loved ones.
"We're losing hope that she is still alive, but if she's dead at least we want to find her body," Degesica told AFP.
Blood seeped through one of the body bags as it was loaded into an ambulance at the port, an AFP photographer saw.
Divers briefly stopped their search in the morning as the waters became choppy due to Tropical Storm Linfa, which was set to brush past the northern Philippines later Friday, said Chief Superintendent Asher Dolina, one of the ground commanders.
Asked if they still expected to find survivors, Dolina said: "We really can't say. Miracles can happen."
The state weather service issued a gale alert for the central Philippines early Friday, warning of turbulent seas churned up by the storm.
Waves up to 4.5 metres (about 15 feet) high could overturn boats that try to leave port in these conditions, weather forecaster Gladys Saludes told AFP.
Poorly maintained, loosely regulated ferries are the backbone of maritime travel in the sprawling archipelago of 100 million people.
The boats have had frequent accidents in recent years, claiming hundreds of lives, including the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster in 1987 when the Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker, leaving more than 4,300 dead.
Many of the ferry disasters occur during the typhoon season between June and October, when strong winds also unleash deadly floods and landslides.
The disaster-plagued Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, many of them deadly.