Rescue personnel near the collapsed bridge in Nanfangao, Taiwan, on Tuesday. (AFP)

Two Filipino fishery workers were confirmed dead after being buried under the rubble of a 140-meter arch suspension bridge that collapsed in northeastern Taiwan on Tuesday morning.

The body of Andree Abregana Serencio was discovered past midnight while Gorge Jagmis Impang’s was found at about 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Meanwhile, another Filipino fisherman, Romulo Ilustrisimo Escalicas, remained missing. Search and rescue operations are ongoing, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which committed to assist the families of the deceased.

“We will assist in the repatriation of the remains and processing of all benefits and entitlements arising from the accident,” a DOLE statement read.

Impang was an active member of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and will receive benefits but Serencio has been inactive for two years now.

DOLE Information and Public Service director Rolly Francia said inactive OWWA members are not entitled to insurance benefits.

Francia added the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) has notified the families of five other injured overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)—Julio S. Gimawa, Jason N. Villaruel, Allan H. Alcansano, John Vicente Royo and June B. Flores.

The weather at the time of the collapse was sunny, but the collapse occurred hours after a typhoon swept by the island. Disaster relief officials would not say if the storm had weakened the bridge or give other details on the cause.

The center of Typhoon “Mitag” passed east of Taiwan on Monday night and early Tuesday, but the outer winds gusting up to 137 kilometers per hour (85 miles per hour) affected the island before the storm moved to northeast.

The storm injured 12 people, felled trees, damaged vehicles and caused power outages around the island.

Nanfangao Bridge is a tourist attraction in Yilan. It opened in 1998 and was built to replace a lower bridge that prevented large fishing vessels from passing underneath.

MAA Consultants, the company that designed the 18-meter (nearly 60-feet) high bridge, said it was the only single-span arch bridge in Taiwan supported by cables and the second single arch-cable steel bridge in the world. (With a report from South China Morning Post)