Coast Guard operatives were still having a tough time retrieving bodies left trapped inside the sunken MV Catalyn B despite the use of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to scour the depths for the retrieval operations, reports Inquirer.net. A Coast Guard official from the public information office in Manila said the bodies, as spotted through the ROV, were trapped under tables and bunker beds, hence making it difficult for deep-sea divers to retrieve the remains. “They (divers) have to study the location of the bodies and how to carefully pull them out (so as) not to tear off the body parts,” said the official, who requested anonymity for not having been assigned as the official spokesperson of the Coast Guard. The official said the remaining bodies were trapped inside the wreck, unlike the two bodies recovered on Saturday that were found on the wreck's surface. Asked to confirm the sighting of four more bodies inside the wreck over the weekend, “there could be, but we do not really count them until the bodies are retrieved,” said the source. Lieutenant Commander Arman Balilo, the Coast Guard spokesman, denied the sighting of four more bodies in a cell phone interview. Coast Guard officials had to halt the retrieval operations until Wednesday. The official told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that a prescribed number of hours for deep-sea diving prompted them to suspend the retrieval operations as exceeding the hours could pose risks to the divers. Rough waters in the seas also delayed the operations, the Inquirer source added. The team that first dove into the waters was composed of six Coast Guard operatives, an expert operator of the ROV, and Captain Matt Caldwell of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. At least 22 passengers have been listed missing after the Mindoro-bound MV Catalyn B sank off Limbones island in Maragondon, Cavite, on December 24.
