Seven bodies -- five men and two women -- have been recovered
following a bridge collapse in south China's Guangdong Province, but police said three of
them were not victims of the accident.
After a forensic examination, doctors concluded that one of the
victims had died five or six day ago and was not a victim of the
collapse. Another two bodies were also excluded.
The other four bodies are being identified and some family DNA
samples were collected on Tuesday for analysis and confirmation,
according to a government spokeswoman.
Rescuers said the river was very high and salvage operations
were difficult.
A seven-ton, 9,000-watt electromagnet with an attraction force
of 30 tons has been used to try to pull out the missing vehicles
but in vain.
An official from Guangdong Maritime Affairs Bureau explained the
vehicles could have been been swept downstream by the swift-flowing
water. Rescuers have expanded the search region to 8,000 meters
downstream from the collapsed bridge.
A boat laden with sand steamed out of the main river channel
about 5:10 a.m. last Friday and hit a pillar of a bridge connecting
Jiujiang Township in Nanhai district of Foshan City to neighbouring
Heshan City, causing 200 meters of the 1,600-meter-long bridge to
collapse.
Sections of the collapsed bridge fell onto the bow of the boat,
partially submerging it. All 10 crew members were rescued, and two
were treated in hospital for bruises and discharged.
Six crew members, including the captain, have been detained by
maritime police.
Video from traffic monitors shows four vehicles carrying seven
people on the bridge at the time of the accident. Two bridge
workers were also on the bridge when it collapsed.
Local authorities announced Monday that one of the nine missing
people has been confirmed to be Wei Zheng from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
On Monday, Guangdong Provincial Department of Transportation
spokesman Zhang Yuanyi said that repair work would soon begin on
the damaged bridge.
(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2007)