Divers search for 24 people missing from sunken ferry in Philippines

Manila: Officials said on Saturday that the coast guard has tapped deep-sea divers to search for 24 people missing from a ferry that sank on Christmas Eve.

Three bodies and 46 survivors were recovered hours after MV Catalyn B, a  ferry with 73 people on board, collided with the 369-ton fishing vessel Anathalia near Manila Bay on Thursday.

Anathalia did not sink and its 22 crewmen were safe.

Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the coast guard chief, said that coast guard auxiliary divers "are now doing some search for the vessel underneath and hopefully it will be possible to conduct deep-sea diving once they have located the wreckage."