Divers returned to a half-sunken, gutted ferry yesterday to search for 137 missing passengers, while the government played down claims by a Muslim militant group that it planted a bomb which caused the ship to catch fire last week.

　　Chances of finding additional survivors were slim.

　　Only one person has been confirmed dead from the fire that swept through Superferry 14 last Friday shortly after it left Manila, the Philippines, while most of the 899 passengers and crew survived by getting into lifeboats or jumping into the sea. Witnesses reported a large explosion started the blaze.

　　President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has dismissed the claim of responsibility by the Abu Sayyaf militants as propaganda, saying investigators had not concluded the blast was due to terrorists. Officials have not ruled out terrorism, however, in their continuing investigation.

　　The ship's owner, WG&A, reduced the number of missing from 184 to 137 yesterday, after some survivors contacted authorities over the weekend. It's possible that others may have escaped and failed to inform officials, spokeswoman Gina Virtusio said.

　　"Every day we'd get information that some of the rescued passengers went home without passing through us or the coast guard," she said. "We are hoping there are more out there."

　　Coast guard Commodore Wilfredo Tamayo said divers, medical teams and firefighters probing the wreckage of 10,192-ton steel-hulled ferry in the shallow waters of Manila Bay yesterday had so far found no remains.

　　"There's twisted metal hanging everywhere. Every time they move something, it's falling on them," he said. "We'll have to use special equipment to clear and unravel the debris."

　　He said they searched about 40 percent of the wreckage, partly submerged in a cove and lying on one side on coral and sand.

　　"We don't want to give up hope because there are stories of miraculous survival," Tamayo said.

　　"When I break the glass, there's the excitement that I can find somebody, but there has been nothing and I'm frustrated," said Commodore Alfredo Santos, a coast guard diver. "We're looking for survivors, but now, even one body will make it worthwhile."

　　Arroyo said the Abu Sayyaf's claim that it planted a bomb appeared to be an afterthought by the group to use the accident to spread fear.

　　"There is nothing in the investigation that proves that this was an act of terrorists," Arroyo said at the coast guard headquarters, where she sought to console relatives of the missing late on Sunday.

　　Officials have not speculated on the fire's cause, but said they could not rule out terrorism even though police sniffer dogs checked the ferry before it left Manila. Still, the government quickly dismissed the Abu Sayyaf claim. "That's far-fetched," Transport Secretary Leandro Mendoza said. "I hope anti-government groups would not ride on accidents like this."

　　The fire occurred the same day that two alleged Abu Sayyaf members were convicted of kidnapping an American in 2000 and another was arraigned in a separate mass abduction.

　　Police intelligence reports have cited the ferries, one of the main forms of travel in the sprawling archipelago, as a potential Abu Sayyaf target.

　　(The Associated Press)