Fourteen bodies were recovered by a group of deep sea divers from the ill-fated M/V Catalyn-B, which sank after colliding with a fishing vessel in the early hours of December 24, during retrieval operations off Limbones Island in Cavite lst Tuesday.

Less than 30 minutes after four highly-trained divers from PhilTech led by Alex Santos descended to the 221-foot deep wreckage site, they were immediately able to recover the bodies of passengers who were trapped when the vessel sank.

Seven of the victims were female, including two infants, and a lone male.

The PhilTech divers were hired and commissioned to retrieve the victims from the passenger boat by the ship’s operator, San Nicholas Shipping Lines, last Sunday after a Coast Guard diver, PO3 Armand Bonifacio, died while performing the risky task last Friday afternoon.

Santos said their first attempt was actually just a survey but upon noticing several bodies scattered in the wrecked vessel, he and his team decided to retrieve the victims at once.

Medical personnel aboard BRP Pampanga which is being used in the recovery operations are still verifying the identities of the victims.

As of the latest count, there are already 25 confirmed deaths from the Christmas Eve sinking while two are still missing.

The Coast Guard will start its formal investigation on the collision and sinking incident by Thursday.