The focus now shifts to recovering the six missing people who are presumed dead – all thought to be construction crew on the bridge when it collapsed.
Marine specialist, Jim Bellingham, tells the BBC that the bodies may either be trapped under wreckage in murky water at the bottom of the river, or a high current environment may have carried them up or down stream.
While the water is shallow, he says they could be stuck under a lot of infrastructure and recovery efforts could include divers and sonar mapping systems.
Investigations into what went wrong with the ship will also be key.
“An enormous advantage is that the ship didn’t sink so they’ll get access to bridge records and hopefully recordings of what was going on,” he adds.