(MANILA) - UN experts will meet Monday with members of a Philippine emergency task force working to salvage a sunken passenger ferry laden with toxic chemicals on which hundreds of people died, officials said.

The team, composed of a marine chemist, a toxicologist and a civil protection experts, arrived in Manila Friday and are scheduled to fly to central Sibuyan island by Tuesday, officials said.

"They will visit ground zero to assess the situation. They will check water samplings for lab testing and do some interviews," task force head and Transportation Undersecretary Maria Elena Bautista told AFP Sunday.

"If more work is needed after their three day stay at ground zero, they will recommend other experts to join them," said Bautista, who was to meet with the experts on Monday.

The team was expected to advise the task force on the best way to salvage the capsized Princess of the Stars ferry off the coast of Sibuyan. The 24,000-ton vessel sailed into the path of Typhoon Fengshen on June 21, listed to its side and quickly capsized.

Of more than 800 people aboard, only 57 were rescued alive, while only 120 bodies have so far been recovered. It is believed hundreds of others are trapped inside the ferry.

Search and retrieval operations were abandoned after it was discovered that the ship had also been carrying 10 tonnes of endosulfan pesticide, a toxic chemical banned in many countries including the United States.

Andrew MacLeod, a spokesman for the UN relief operations in the Philippines, said the experts would be able to help formulate a clearer work plan on how to retrieve the vessel and its cargo amid fears the toxic cargo could leak.

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