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)