‘Princess’ task force head to consult architects to speed up search

MANILA, Philippines - The head of a government task force looking into the MV Princess of the Stars tragedy will meet with naval architects Thursday to discuss ways of speeding up the search for the victims. Transportation Undersecretary for Maritime Transport Elena Bautista said she would ask members of the Association of Naval Engineers if they could safely siphon out oil and drill holes in the ill-fated vessel to let more divers in. "We’d like to confront this (problem) with experts," Bautista, who heads a government task force looking into the sinking, said in an interview on QTV's News on Q. She said she also wants to find out if there were alterations made to the ship's structure, and if there are, she wants to know how to work around them. Bautista said divers are working 24 hours for search and retrieval operations. - GMANews.TV