The death toll from a bridge collapse in central China's Hunan Province has risen to 41 as of early Thursday.

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

Sixty-three workers escaped or were rescued. Twenty-one are still in hospital receiving treatment for their injuries.

In Fenghuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, three seriously injured workers are no longer described as critical after emergency treatment, according to hospital sources. Seventeen workers are receiving treatment in the hospital.

The four-arch bridge was to link Fenghuang County, a popular tourist spot, with Daxing Airport in Tongren City, neighboring Guizhou Province.

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

Police have detained Xia Youjia, a construction manager, and Jiang Ping, a project supervisor. All technical data about the bridge and financial accounts of the companies involved have been sealed for examination.

Premier Wen Jiabao has issued an order to local governments and government departments "to do their utmost to carry out rescue and treatment work".

Wen also told them to "determine the cause of the collapse and severely punish those responsible".

More than 1,500 rescuers are still searching the debris, but medical workers said there was little chance of finding survivors.

A nine-member team of experts has arrived at the site to take samples from the rubble so as to determine whether the bridge had quality problems.

Meanwhile, an investigation team under the State Council was established. The team, headed by Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, consisted of officials from the communications, construction, health and supervision ministries.

The collapse also affected water supplies to about 700,000 residents in Fenghuang as the pipes of the local water plant were broken by the falling debris. The supply resumed on Wednesday afternoon.

Medical workers have disinfected the section of the Tuojiang River near the accident site to limit the chances of any disease outbreak.

A local official at the scene claimed that a "traditional and risky" type of bridge, made of stone and concrete, had been chosen over a steel structure to ensure "it remained in harmony with the natural environment".

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2007)