Rescuers recovered another six bodies on Sunday from the Danny F II freighter that went down in a storm on Thursday off the northern Lebanese coast as chances of finding more survivors dwindled, a port official said.

That brought to 17 the number of bodies retrieved since the ship sank on Thursday. Forty survivors have been found but 26 people are still unaccounted for.

Vessels from Lebanon, Syria, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have been engaged in the rescue operations alongside a Cyprus-based British helicopter.

The Danny F II was carrying over 80 people when it capsized on Thursday about 11 nautical miles off the Tripoli coast after sending a distress signal at 3:55 p.m.

It had left Montevideo on November 29 with about 10,000 sheep and almost 18,000 cattle bound for the Syrian port of Tartus, north of Tripoli, but was forced to change course because of the bad weather. The ship's operator, Agencia Schandy, told AFP in Montevideo that it had a crew of 76 and six passengers -- four Uruguayans, one Brazilian and an Australian. 

-AFP/NOW Lebanon