DATE: Thursday, September 11, 1997          TAG: 9709110453

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE 

DATELINE: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI             LENGTH:   52 lines

NAVY DIVERS FROM NORFOLK TO TAKE OVER FERRY RECOVERY WORK OFF HAITI'S COAST THE NUMBER OF BODIES RECOVERED AT 99 ON WEDNESDAY.

The United States is sending a team of Norfolk-based Navy divers to Haiti today to take over the recovery operation aboard the Pride of Gonave, the ferry that capsized in deep water Monday with more than 200 people aboard.

An advance team of divers flew into Haiti from Puerto Rico on Wednesday to help in the operation.

The request for the divers came from President Rene Preval and Haitian National Police Chief Pierre Denize, U.S. officials said.

Between 12 and 18 Navy salvage divers based in Norfolk will arrive today to replace peacekeepers attached to the Canadian army in Haiti. The peacekeepers spent two days diving at dangerous levels with equipment suited for shallower waters, U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. David Forslund said.

``They exceeded the limitations of their equipment,'' he said. ```They did as much as they could with what they had. They pushed the safety envelope as much as it can be pushed.''

Of the 22 Canadian divers involved in the recovery, he said, only four were professional salvage divers.

The other 18 were volunteers with equipment used primarily in recreational diving. Because of the depth, he said, they were forced to stay under the water for only 14 minutes to avoid the need to decompress, making the recovery process a slow one.

The number of bodies recovered stood at 99 on Wednesday. Rescuers believe as many as 100 others are still trapped inside the Pride of Gonave, which sank off the coast about 50 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince. About 60 people reached safety when they swam ashore or were plucked from the water by rescuers.

One local rescuer who reached the site less than an hour after the ferry capsized early Monday said he couldn't get to the passengers below deck because a door was locked.

Forslund said the U.S. divers will operate from the Confidence, a 210-foot Coast Guard cutter that docked at Port-au-Prince early Tuesday after intercepting a 400-foot Russian vessel suspected of running drugs.

The cutter, he said, will take the team to the site and carry heavy equipment that ``can go down and stay down.'' In addition, divers will be able to stay on the job because they will have a place to shower, sleep and eat, along with the ability to communicate with officials in Port-au-Prince.

Forslund said they are studying the possibility of cutting a hole in the hull to free the bodies. The divers will not try to raise the ship out of the water, he said.

Confusion remained over the number of victims in Monday's tragedy, which apparently occurred when people rushed to one end of the ferry as it anchored off Montrouis and prepared to put passengers ashore in small boats.

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