The World - News from April 9, 1987

Divers struggled through mud and debris to recover 123 bodies from the wrecked British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise, which capsized March 6 as it pulled out of Zeebrugge harbor in Belgium. The recovery effort brought the death toll to 184, making it one of Europe’s worst peacetime maritime tragedies. Commander Jack Birkett, a diving official directing a team of British and Belgian divers, said there was slime, mud and oil everywhere. Sixty-one bodies were recovered shortly after the disaster, and the final death toll is expected to be about 195. Officials have said that 348 people survived.