MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Divers wriggled into a capsized ferry today and found only bodies - including that of a crewman still clutching a radio - three days after some 850 people went down with the vessel during a powerful typhoon, officials said.

Hundreds of people were feared trapped when the ship suddenly tilted and went belly up Saturday at the height of the powerful storm that left dozens of people dead in flooded communities in the central Philippines.

Philippines Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo indicated it was unlikely there were survivors from the ferry. He said the ship's interior was too dark to determine how many bodies were there and lighting was being brought in.

"Most of the bodies were floating inside. They were trapped when the seven-story ship suddenly tilted and capsized," he told dzBB radio.

Arevalo said it was possible some passengers could have survived initially, but the roiling seas from Typhoon Fengshen had kept rescuers at bay too long, and suffocation might have claimed some lives.

He said some of the bodies had life vests, but many passengers apparently hesitated to jump into the "turbulent waters" before the ship capsized because "it happened too sudden." Survivors said the ship listed and went down in a half-hour or less. "If there are survivors, they could only be found in the forward portion because if the vessel is no longer watertight, water would enter all its spaces that are submerged," Arevalo said.

Coast guard chief Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo said about 20 coast guard and navy divers were at the scene and that the U.S. Navy ship Stockham had arrived with frogmen and search-and-rescue helicopters.

Only about three dozen ferry survivors have been found, including 28 who drifted at sea for more than 24 hours, first in a life raft, then in life jackets, before they were found Sunday about 80 miles to the north in eastern Quezon province. Officials initially reported 747 passengers and crew were aboard the ferry but said yesterday that it was carrying about 100 more.
