RESCUERS in Fenghuang, Hunan Province, found five more bodies from the debris of a collapsed bridge Wednesday night, raising the death toll to 41, Xinhua said Thursday.

President Hu Jintao, who was in Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek on an official visit, has urged authorities to immediately set up a panel to investigate the cause of the accident and bring those responsible to justice.

The bridge collapsed Monday afternoon when about 123 workers were dismantling its steel scaffolding.

The bridge was constructed by Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Co., which also constructed Jiujiang Bridge in Guangdong Province. Part of the Jiujiang Bridge collapsed after it was hit by a boat in June, the Beijing News reported Thursday, citing the Web site of the State-owned company. Eight people died in the accident.

Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Co. also built a bridge over Qiantang River in Zhejiang Province in 1997. The bridge needed repairs that took one year in 2005, the report said.(SD-Agencies)