(xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-17 11:35

The new bridge which collapsed in Hunan Province four days ago was blown up early Friday morning in a desperate effort to find out more victims as chances of finding survivors are slim.

Experts detonated explosives at 2:28 am Friday, demolishing the three collapsed concrete piers, where more bodies are believed to be buried.

The huge piers of the bridge had been too heavy to be easily moved and baffled the searching operation.

Before the explosion, experts and rescuers had searched through the site of the collapse via detectors, finding no signs of lives beneath the huge piles of rubbles.

Dozens of trucks are busying clearing up the site while soldiers and medical workers are struggling to comb for the remnant of victims.

More bodies are expected to be found, but no new findings have been reported so far.

By Thursday, 41 bodies had been retrieved from the debris of the collapsed bridge.

The 328-meter-long, 42-meter-high bridge over the Tuojiang River in Fenghuang County in western Hunan Province, collapsed on Monday afternoon when an estimated 123 workers were dismantling steel scaffolding.

Construction began in March 2004 and the bridge was scheduled to open to traffic at the end of the month.

"We had been worried about the possible collapse of the bridge because it has a rather wide span," said Long Shaozhong, a worker injured in the accident.

Long, lying on the bed of a hospital, said he and other workers always have a feeling that the construction was proceeding fast, especially when they dismantled all the scaffolding before the concrete turns completely dry.

Investigation into the causes of the accident is still underway.