More bodies washed ashore in Spain

The bodies - all of them women - were believed to have been carried into the sea by strong currents after a 116-year-old highway bridge collapsed into River Douro east of Oporto on Sunday.

Scuba divers had retrieved only one body from the river near the site of the accident. On Thursday, four bodies were found off the Spanish coast and identified on the basis of their clothing and photographs.

Portuguese officials were to travel to Spain to identify the two bodies which were retrieved on Friday. The accident occurred when a 19th-century highway bridge suddenly gave way following heavy rains, plunging a bus and three cars into River Douro.

A net had been placed in the mouth of the Douro to prevent bodies from floating into the sea, but it ripped. Strong currents and a depth of 20 metres were hindering the work of scuba divers from Portugal, Spain and France.

(la/dpa)