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Bogor. Rescuers on Monday discovered the bodies of two of the seven children missing after a bamboo bridge collapsed, sweeping the youngsters into the raging river, bringing the total confirmed fatalities to three.

The body of 35-year-old Umamah was the first to be recovered from the Cihideung River when the bridge in Cibanteng village collapsed on Sunday morning.

After searching for over 12 hours, rescuers recovered the body of 10 year-old Septia Rizky Alamsyah 20 kilometers from the site on Monday morning, according to Ma’mur, the head of the evacuation team.

“[Her body] was found by a local resident lodged in the rocks of the river,” he said. He added that the girl’s body had been swept downstream into the main river of Cisadane. “Her family has identified her.”

Ma’mur said that the second body was found further down the river system in the Ciliwung River, 30 kilometers from the accident in South Tangerang, Banten. Rescuers believe that the body belongs to 5 year-old Ravi.

“[Ravi’s] body has been taken to a local hospital to confirm the identity,” he said.

Ma’mur said rescuers planned to conduct a seven-day search to hunt for the five remaining victims, who are all between the ages of 6 and 11.

Iwan Firdaus, chief diver at the Bogor Search and Rescue Agency, said the rescue efforts had been hampered by strong currents and murky waters as Bogor had been hit by days of torrential rain.

“We don’t want to take any risk of adding more victims,” Iwan said, adding that Monday’s rescue attempts were halted at 5 p.m.

More than 200 people were involved in the search, including officers from the local army and air force bases, the Disaster Response Team (Tagana) and local residents.

Bogor Police Chief Adj. Comr. Hery Santoso said that his office was still investigating the cause of the bridge collapse.

“But we won’t rush [the investigation]. For now we are focusing on evacuating [victims],” he said.

Abdul Fatah, 60, who survived the collapse, said the bridge had been full of children going to a Koranic recital.

There had been 23 people on the bridge, he said, but 15 managed to swim to safety despite being badly injured.

Hendra, who heads a ward in Cibanteng, said the collapsed bridge had been built in 2004 and he believed that the construction was becoming dangerous.

He said that the bridge, which had been built by local residents, usually underwent maintenance at least once a year.