Seven crew members were saved after jumping off a cargo vessel that ran aground because of a broken anchor in rough seas due to Typhoon Surigae in the southern Philippines but rescuers could only retrieve the bodies of four other sailors.

Nine other crew members of the LCT Cebu Great Ocean remain missing. The coast guard and maritime police are searching for them off Surigao del Norte province, where the vessel ran aground without its crew, coast guard spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said.

Those who were rescued floated in their life jackets and float rings for two days, Balilo said.

The vessel, which had a crew of 20 and was loaded with nickel ore and about 2,000 liters (530 gallons) of diesel fuel, had dropped anchor off Jabonga town in nearby Agusan del Norte. But it snapped in rough seas on Monday and the vessel took in water and started to list.

"It was during this time when they declared `abandon ship’ and jumped off," a coast guard report said.

The abandoned vessel drifted and ran aground more than 60 kilometers (37 miles) from where it was anchored.

The coast guard asked passing ships to be on the lookout for the missing crew.

A strong typhoon has left at least three people dead, displaced more than 169,000 in eastern provinces and roughed up weather elsewhere in the archipelago in recent days although it did not reach inland.