More than 200 firefighters, military personnel and rescuers from civil groups, five sniffer dogs and seven boats were mobilized throughout the day on the stretch of the Taichung County river from the Hongfeng Bridge, which collapsed in heavy rain brought by Typhoon Sinlaku, to the river mouth. Six people in four cars fell off the bridge, only one of whom was found drowned a few hours after the incident occurred.

A few days ago, a male body was found in the sea off the mouth of the Dajia River and DNA test results showed a 90 percent possibility of the dead man being 22-year-old Sheng Cheng-huei, one of the five missing persons, Taichung County Fire Bureau officials said Saturday.

However, they went on that they could not confirm the corpse's identity until a formal forensic report was released. On Friday, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications disciplined 10 officials it decided should be held responsible for the bridge collapse, including Chen Jin yuan, head of the Directorate General of Highways.

The Houfeng Bridge, which links Taichung County's Houli township with Fengyuan City, collapsed after being weakened by the river's raging waters that battered its aging footings and other decrepit support structures. It was one of four highway bridges damaged by the typhoon over the past weekend.

Because of the incident, the government has been forced to accelerate the restoration of 40 bridges in bad condition around the country.