DATE: Tuesday, September 16, 1997           TAG: 9709160237

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT 

DATELINE: MONTROUIS, HAITI                  LENGTH:   49 lines

LITTLE CREEK DIVERS RECOVER BODIES ON FERRYBOAT OFF HAITI

The Norfolk-based salvage ship Grasp is scheduled to arrive today at the site of a sunken ferry off the coast, where the Navy is leading the recovery of an estimated 100 bodies trapped in the hold of the submerged boat.

As of Monday, at least 130 bodies had been recovered from the Pride of Gonave, which sank Sept. 8 off Montrouis after a one-hour journey from Anse-a-Galets on Gonave Island.

About 50 of the bodies had been recovered by a team led by 15 divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. Those divers took over recovery operations Thursday after a Canadian crew called for more experienced help.

The Navy divers apparently requested the 255-foot Grasp, which is outfitted with special cranes, cutting tools and decompression chambers, when it became apparent the recovery of remaining bodies couldn't be completed without heavy-duty equipment.

``If it is going to be a mission of long-term duration, the team that is down there now is going to need a vessel like the Grasp,'' said Senior Chief Petty Officer Ted Brown, a spokesman for the Norfolk-based 2nd Fleet. He said he didn't know how long the recovery will last.

The Grasp, which left Little Creek late Saturday, was involved in the recovery of parts and victims from TWA Flight 800 last year off Long Island. Brown said the ship has a crew of six officers and 85 enlisted sailors.

As recovery operations continued this week, mourners stood on the shore, which smelled of disinfectant and rotting flesh, as the bodies were brought to the ocean surface from the remains of the vessel 120 feet below.

A brass band played a funeral march and a dozen hearses drove along a dirt road leading to the pebble beach Sunday to retrieve the bodies for burial.

Bereaved relatives are eager to claim the bodies so they can perform last rites - which, according to the country's voodoo religion, allows the dead to find eternal peace. But President Rene Preval claims the bodies are too decomposed to identify, and has proposed a mass grave.

U.N. officials say about 50 people survived the sinking of Pride of Gonave, which overturned when the captain dropped anchor and everyone hurried to one side to get off, some survivors claim.

Haitian officials say the 60-foot, three-story ferry was licensed to carry up to 300 passengers. But Steve Banks, a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant in Port-au-Prince, has said the boat was certified to carry only 80 people. An official inquest has not yet begun, said Interior Minister Jean Moliere. MEMO: The Associated Press and Staff Writer Dave Mayfield contributed to

this report. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT BOAT HAITI FATALITIES

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