Seven more bodies have been recovered Tuesday from a bus that plunged into a river in the suburb of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Sunday afternoon, taking the death toll to 9.

Abul Nayeem Mohammed Shahiddullah, the country's Fire Service and Civil Defense's director general, told Xinhua on Tuesday over phone that rescue team is continuing efforts to recover bodies and salvage the ill-fated bus which, veered off a bridge and plunged into the fast-flowing river Turag with over 50 passengers on board.

Rescuers on Monday finally located the sunken bus about 24 hours after it fell into the river and recovered one body.

Local media had earlier reported only eight passengers managed to swim ashore when the bus plunged into the river. But one of them, a female university student, died later in hospital.

Some rescuers had earlier told Xinhua on the spot that they suspect the passengers who went missing are all trapped inside the bus.

Bangladesh has the highest annual road death toll in the world with accidents caused by speeding, careless driving, poor roads, overcrowding and poor vehicle maintenance.

According to the statistics of the Police Headquarters, as many as 2,958 people were killed in 3,381 road accidents across the country in 2009.