NANCHANG -- Police authorities at a county in the eastern province of Jiangxi said Thursday, that eight people had been detained following a bridge collapse in September.

The suspects were owners and employees of three companies hired to dismantle an old bridge in Taihe County, police said in a statement.

On September 11, eight workers, along with several excavators, plunged into the Ganjiang River when the bridge suddenly broke. Five were saved and three died.

The suspects are accused of violating safety rules and putting the lives of construction workers at risk. They are also said to have interfered with the bidding process for the dismantling project, police said.

The 828-meter bridge was built in the early 1990s. Workers were sent to dismantle the bridge in August as a 2012 inspection concluded it needed repairs.