The death toll from a bridge collapse in northern Brazil rose to 10 on Friday, officials said.
The Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Bridge, linking the states of Maranhão and Tocantins, collapsed on Sunday, sending vehicles and their occupants into the water below.
The Brazilian Navy was carrying out rescue operations in the area, with an additional body found 6 kilometers from the crash site on Thursday and a second victim in the Tocantins River on Friday.
“Thus far, 10 people have been killed and seven are missing,” the Navy said in a statement Thursday, updating the toll to eight dead and nine missing.
More than 70 rescue workers continued the search for almost a week after the accident, using a hyperbaric chamber to allow divers to search at depths of more than 30 metres.
On Tuesday, Brazilian officials warned that the Tocantins River could be contaminated by sulfuric acid being carried by two trucks that spilled into the water.
The third truck involved in the accident was carrying pesticides.
A fire department spokesman later told AFP that the tanks of all three trucks were “intact” after the collapse.
However, due to the danger of those chemicals, rescue and body-retrieval operations were slowed for several days while water was analyzed and the trucks’ chemical tank trailers were inspected.
Initially constructed in the 1960s, the length of this bridge was approximately 500 meters.
The cause of the collapse is under investigation, but officials said initial indications are that the bridge’s central beam has buckled.
