Salvage workers found a body in the cab of a van two weeks after a bridge collapsed in south China's Guangdong Province, said local sources.

The salvage workers have so far recovered eight of the nine known victims who went missing after the bridge spanning the Xijiang River, a tributary of the Pearl River, near Jiujiang in Foshan, Guangdong, collapsed on June 15.

The remains were found on Thursday morning after the salvage workers retrieved another of the four motor vehicles that plunged into the river after a barge slammed.

The newly found remains were confirmed to be Song Rui, 22, one of the nine people who went missing after the bridge collapsed. Song Rui was said to be together with his father Song Shulian inside a van when the accident took place. Song the senior remained missing.

According to the salvage workers, the cab, found 30 meters below the water near the bridge, was covered by mud and sand and was severely destroyed. Salvage operation is still going on. Four vehicles carrying seven people and two road workers were thrown into the Xijiang River in Guangdong on June 15 when, in heavy fog, a cargo vessel traveling along the river ploughed into a section of the 1,600-meter-long Jiujiang Bridge that spans the river, causing part of it to collapse.

Investigators have said the collapse had nothing to do with the quality of the construction of the bridge which opened to traffic in 1988.

Six crew members aboard the vessel "Nanguiji 035" have been detained by maritime police.

Preliminary work has begun on repairing the bridge. The work is expected to be completed by the end of the year, local authorities say.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2007)