At least nine killed after bridge linking two states in northern Brazil collapses

The death toll after a bridge linking two states in northern Brazil collapsed has risen to nine.

The navy said that the body of a woman was found six kilometres from the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Bridge on Friday, while another eight people remain unaccounted for.

Several cars and trucks plunged into the Tocantins River after a section of the bridge crumbled.

Police operating on the border of the northern states of Maranhao and Tocantins said four trucks, two cars and two motorcycles fell into the river.

The 533-metre bridge between the cities of Estreito and Aguiarnopolis was built in the 1960s.

It is around 1,300 kilometres north of the capital, Brasilia.

The cause of the 24 December collapse is unknown.