The past weekend marked one of the darkest dates in the Philippines' natural disaster-battering history, with reports of floods, landslides, flooded streets and a sunken ship with over 700 passengers on board.

The country's Red Cross and disaster relief authorities on Sunday night announced that at least 229 people have been killed, 700 others missing as typhoon "Fengshen" ripped through the archipelago since Friday afternoon.

A relative of a ferry passenger cries as she awaits the latest news inside the office of Sulpicio Lines in the port area of Cebu city, central Philippines June 22, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) 

More people, officials said, are feared dead as the hope of survival is fading for the 700 people on ferry "M/V Princess of the Star" which completely sank off the coasts of central Philippine province of Romblon on Sunday.

So far, only four survivors have reached shores and the rest are "still unaccounted for", Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Armand Balilo said.