At least 40 typhoon survivors made it to shore in the Philippines but not all were from a ferry that sunk with more than 850 onboard, a local official told a radio station on Monday.

"Not all of them came from the sunken ferry," mayor Eduardo Andueza told DZBB radio from Claveria town on Burias island in the central Philippines.

"Some were survivors of fishing vessels that also sank during the typhoon," Andueza said.

Only the tip of the bow of the Princess of the Stars remained above water after it tilted and quickly capsized Saturday, and navy frogmen have found no sign of life inside the doomed vessel just off the central island of Sibuyan.

Andueza said 35 bodies had also been found.

"There are survivors, there are some who made it ashore but later died, and some of the bodies were already decomposing, so I had them buried," the mayor said.

Some of the survivors remained in hospitals on the island, he said.