(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-04 08:46

WASHINGTON - Rescuers in Minneapolis, Minn., have found the fifth body two days after a freeway bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River below, the CNN reported Friday.

Authorities said the toll is expected to climb as they piece through wreckage in the water.

Church group friends, from left, Heather Mattson, of Edina, Minn.: Carrie Gill, of Minneapolis; Kelly Hoadley, of Minnetonka, Minn.; Greta Tracey, of Minneapolis; and Heather Trimble, of Chanhassen, Minn., pray together at Gold Medal Park, near the collapsed Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis on Thursday evening, Aug. 2, 2007. 'We don't understand it, but we still feel God is in control,' said Hoadley. Mattson said she was southbound on the interstate, one exit away from the bridge, when it collapsed.[AP]

Eight people are still missing, said Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek.

The search for bodies in the Mississippi River was painstakingly slow as divers navigated debris and murky water after Wednesday's collapse.

About 15 divers from local counties did a bank-to-bank search Thursday afternoon and found 11 vehicles, including an 18-wheeler,said Lynn Schwartz, Communication Specialist for the Bridge Collapse Command Center.

Vehicles with bodies inside are being taken out of the river, while empty ones are being marked and left in the water, she said.

Officials said at least 79 people were injured.

Dozens of cars are trapped in the rubble or in the river after the eight-lane interstate bridge collapsed during Minneapolis' evening rush hour.