(Photo: Xinhua)

After the around clock salvage, the black box of bus that plunged into Yangtze River has been found and handed over to local public security bureau on early Wednesday.

According to authorities, nine have been confirmed dead in the Chongqing bus incident and 7 bodies have been recovered.

Fifteen people have been confirmed missing on Monday after a bus fell into the Yangtze River from a bridge in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Sunday.

Police confirmed the number of missing people after an investigation, which included the bus driver, Chongqing-based news site cqnews.net reported on Monday.

Those who reported a missing family member had their blood samples taken for possible verification of missing people's identities, cqnews.net reported.