485 Lost After Typhoon Sinks Philippine Ship

Rescuers said today that they had found only 15 survivors out of the more than 500 people on a ship sunk by Typhoon Ruby, which hit shore with 140-m.p.h. winds that flattened thousands of homes and took at least 97 lives elsewhere.

Darkness and bad weather forced an overnight suspension of the search for survivors of the Dona Marilyn, which replaced the Dona Paz on the Sulpicio Lines run between Manila and Tacloban. The Dona Paz sank last Dec. 20 after a collision off Mindoro Island and more than 3,000 people perished.

More than 100,000 Filipinos were left homeless by Ruby, which was reported in the South China Sea late today, heading west with top winds of about 100 m.p.h.

Helicopter Rescues

In suburban Manila, U.S. and Philippine helicopters rescued hundreds of people stranded on rooftops and in trees by the flooding Marikina River.

Coast Guard officials said the 2,845-ton passenger liner sank Monday in the Visayas Sea about 300 miles southeast of Manila.

It was carrying 451 passengers and 60 crew members from Manila to Tacloban on Leyte Island when it radioed a Mayday call, said Carlos Go, general manager of Sulpicio Lines.

Lt. Rey Esguerra of the coast guard station in Cebu said rescuers had found 11 survivors on Maripipi Island and another small island, and four people were found alive in the water.

25 More Lost

Officials reported 25 people missing because of Typhoon Ruby at Cagayan de Oro, a coastal city on Mindanao Island, and 15 were unaccounted for after a crowded bus plunged into a swollen river Monday in Antique province. The Red Cross said 26 bodies were recovered from the bus.

Floods on Luzon and other islands caused landslides and washed away bridges.

Carlos Dominguez, agriculture secretary, said preliminary estimates put damage to crops at nearly $46 million, but casualty and damage reports were incomplete because of poor communications.

Ruby’s center passed about 50 miles east of Manila early today and swept through the Tarlac, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija provinces, the Philippines’ main rice-growing region.

Meteorologists said more than nine inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Manila Airport.