FOSHAN, Guangdong: The bodies of three of the nine people missing after the Jiujiang Bridge in Foshan collapsed were pulled from the Xijiang River yesterday, sources with the local civil affairs authorities said.

The 1,600-m bridge, which spans the Xijiang River, a major tributary of the Pearl River in South China, collapsed on Friday morning after being hit by a boat laden with sand.

Rescue workers yesterday retrieved five bodies from the river. Three of them were identified as being victims of the collapse, while the other two were men who had drowned in separate incidents.

Meanwhile, efforts to salvage four vehicles believed to have fallen into the Xijiang River when the bridge collapsed, were halted yesterday afternoon due to bad weather conditions.

A team of 10 salvage experts from central and local maritime authorities began using a ship-based 7-ton electromagnet yesterday morning to help retrieve the vehicles.

"The magnet made contact with something in the river, but the heavy rains increased the flow of the river and we lost it," Zhou Wen, an official with the Foshan government, said.

"We have therefore put the salvage work on hold until the weather improves," he said.

Zhang Dejiang, Party secretary of Guangdong Province, yesterday urged related departments to thoroughly investigate the accident after inspecting the site on Sunday.

An investigation team comprising local governmental departments for public security, communications, maritime affairs and work safety has been set up.

The captain and five crew of the barge that hit the Jiujiang Bridge have been detained.

As of yesterday, operations at Jiujiang dock, which were halted when the bridge opened in 1998, remained on hold, Li Xinzhong from the Foshan communications bureau, said.

Following the bridge collapse, authorities decided to resume operations at the dock in an attempt to ease the traffic congestion. But Li said the bureau must first train staff and assess safety at the dock.

(China Daily 06/19/2007 page4)