Rescue work continued yesterday as at least nine people and four vehicles were confirmed as still missing following Friday's collapse of a bridge in Foshan , Guangdong province, officials said.
A sand barge on the West River, or Xijiang, struck a Jiujiang Bridge support pillar at 5.15am on Friday, Foshan vice-mayor Deng Weigen said.
'There were seven people who were driving or sitting in four vehicles when the accident happened, and two road repair workers,' Mr Deng said. 'The four vehicles are a van from Jiangmen , a car from Guangzhou, a Jiangmen post office car and a truck from Shenzhen.'
Mr Deng said the relatives of the victims had been informed.
Guangdong Marine Bureau vice-director Mo Qi said bad weather was hampering rescue operations. 'Days of downpours in Guangdong have stirred up water at the scene,' Mr Mo said. 'The torrent of water would also have moved the vehicles, hindering our rescue work.'
He said the bureau had deployed five survey ships and four speedboats from neighbouring Jiangmen, Gaoming and Shunde for the rescue and had requested help from three salvage companies and 10 divers.