(New Delhi, India) -- Rescue workers had recovered 29 bodies after a bridge collapse in northern India and chances of finding survivors among another 20 missing were unlikely, a police official said Sunday.
A section of the 100-metre-plus bridge under construction over the Chambal River in Rajasthan state collapsed Thursday, plunging several workers into the river and trapping others in the rubble.
"A total of 29 bodies were recovered by Sunday evening. The search for about 18 to 20 missing people is still on but chances of finding survivors looks unlikely," police sub-inspector Prem Chand said.
All the victims were construction workers, he said.
A team of police, soldiers, rescue workers and naval divers were still engaged in search operations at the site near Kota town, about 240 kilometres south of state capital Jaipur.
The bridge is a joint venture between construction firms Gammon India and South Korea's Hyundai Engineering. Work on the project began in 2007 and is running a year behind schedule.
Chand said the construction companies had provided a list of 45 people working on the site but there could have been more people as several daily wage labourers who assisted in the construction work may not have been in the list.
He said navy divers were still searching among the rubble that had fallen in the river and gas cutters and cranes were being used to remove rubble. "The operation may take several days," he added.
The chief project manager of Hyundai JR Ryu and project manager of Gammon India R Chattopadhyay had been arrested and remanded to police custody for five days.
Kota police had filed charges of criminal negligence against 14 officials of the two companies.
Rajasthan's junior Minister for Road Transport Mahadev Singh Khandela said the construction companies would be blacklisted if any deficiencies were found during the probe into the accident.