A Catholic priest said mass over the site of a capsized ferry in the central Philippines on Thursday as divers prepared to bore a hole in the vessel to speed up the retrieval of bodies.

Hundreds of corpses are believed trapped in the seven-storey Princess of the Stars, which ran aground and flipped over with 865 passengers and crew on board during Typhoon Fengshen on Saturday.

Some relatives of the missing wept and threw flowers after a priest said mass on a coast guard tugboat close to the giant ferry off Sibuyan island. Only the tip of its bow can been seen above water.

Mark Anthony Barrozo, whose 4-month pregnant girlfriend was on the vessel, shouted "Forgive me" before breaking down.

So far, only 48 people have been found alive from the disaster. Fisherman either plucked them from life rafts or they washed ashore with harrowing tales of mountainous waves and children rolling around the deck as the ferry started to sink.

The overall death toll from the sixth typhoon to hit the Philippines this storm season could top 1,300, including nearly 500 people killed in a torrent of flooding in the centre and south of the archipelago.

The United States, the Philippines' former colonial master, has led international aid efforts.

The USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier, cut short a visit to Hong Kong and is currently moored several miles off Panay island, one of the worst-hit areas.

Sailors from the carrier are shuttling water, rice and medical supplies to over 1.4 million evacuees. In Iloilo city, a provincial capital on Panay, residents were wading through knee-deep mud left after the flood waters drained away.

CORPSES IN WATER

Rescue efforts were concentrated on the Princess of the Stars, which is likely the Philippines's biggest shipping disaster since the Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker in 1987 killing more than 4,000 people.

Sulpicio Lines, which owns the Princess of the Stars, also owned the Dona Paz.

Off Sibuyan island, U.S. and Philippine navy divers combed the ferry's cabins for bodies. So far, 15 corpses, many wearing life vests, have been pulled from the ferry.

Lieutenant-Commander Inocencio Rosario, who has been leading some of the underwater expeditions, said they would drill a hole in the ship.

Over 100 corpses, including a toddler, have been found in the water and have also washed up on beaches but with at least nine other vessels sunk in Saturday's typhoon, disaster officials are having trouble identifying where they came from.

Rescuers, meanwhile, are struggling to deal with the mass of bodies. Television showed a dump truck unloading a large bag of bodies into a shallow grave.

"We have buried the bodies because we have no choice," said Eduardo Andueza, a mayor from the island of Masbate, where dozens have washed up.

Shipping tragedies are common in the Philippines, where safety rules are poorly implemented and substandard vessels ply dangerous waters.

An inquiry has begun into the Princess of the Stars disaster and the coast guard station commander in Manila has been removed from his post while it proceeds.