TRIPOLI, Lebanon, December 20, 2009 (AFP) - Rescuers recovered another six bodies Sunday from a ship that sank in rough seas off the northern Lebanese coast as chances of finding more survivors dwindled, a port official said.

"Rescue efforts are ongoing, but at this point we highly doubt there are any survivors left," Tripoli port authority chief Ahmad Tamer told AFP.

He said the latest bodies to be recovered were found further north in the Mediterranean Sea off the Syrian coast, four of them off Lattakia, one off Jabli and the other off Banyas.

That brought to 17 the number of bodies retrieved since the ship sank on Thursday. Forty survivors have been found but 26 people are still unaccounted for.

Rescue teams have been battling rough conditions in the hunt for survivors from the Danny F II, a freighter which went down in a storm with its British captain among those believed to have drowned.

Vessels from Lebanon, Syria, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have been engaged in the rescue operations alongside a Cyprus-based British helicopter.

But officials say no survivors have been found since Saturday morning.

In Lebanon all but two survivors had been released from hospital and were awaiting embassy arrangements to return to their countries, an AFP correspondent said.

Most survivors were from the Philippines, Pakistan and Uruguay. A Russian, a Ukrainian and a Lebanese were also among those saved.

A Lebanese rescue official has quoted one survivor as saying he saw the British captain go down with the ship.

The Danny F II was carrying over 80 people when it capsized on Thursday about 11 nautical miles off the Tripoli coast after sending a distress signal at 3:55 pm (1355 GMT).

It had left Montevideo on November 29 with about 10,000 sheep and almost 18,000 cattle bound for the Syrian port of Tartus, north of Tripoli, but was forced to change course because of the bad weather.

It was trying to reach Beirut when disaster struck.

The ship's operator, Agencia Schandy, told AFP in Montevideo that it had a crew of 76 and six passengers -- four Uruguayans, one Brazilian and an Australian.

But port officials in Tripoli put the number at 83, saying an earlier figure did not include the captain.