GUANGZHOU: The two parties accused of sailing a barge into a bridge on the Xijiang River in Guangdong province and causing it to collapse appealed in court on Sunday for the case to be reinvestigated.

Nine people were killed when the Jiujiang Bridge in Guangdong province collapsed after being hit by the sand barge on June 15, 2007.

The defendants - the owner of the barge, Yang Xiong, and its operator, the Foshan South Sea Yuhang Shipping Co - argued that the 1,600-m bridge may have collapsed by itself, as its piers were laid shallow in the riverbed.