Authorities in Harbin have denied that officials had previously said no contractors could be found to take possible responsibility for Friday's fatal bridge collapse.

A ramp on the multi-million-dollar bridge in Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang in northeast China, collapsed early Friday morning, causing four trucks to plunge 30 meters to the ground.

Three people died and five were injured in the accident. As of Saturday night, one of the patients was still in critical condition.

Following the collapse, there were claims on the Internet that officials from the Harbin municipal commission of housing and urban-rural development said the bridge construction headquarters had dissolved and no contractors could be found.

On Saturday, Huang Yusheng, secretary general of the Harbin municipal government, said the claims were groundless and there had never been such official remarks.

Huang said the government had provided relevant materials from the designer, contractor and supervisor to the investigation team. After the investigation ends, names of the designer, contractor and supervisor will be made public, he told a press briefing.

"Besides, the ramp that collapsed was under a separate viaduct construction project. It was not under the same contract as Yangmingtan Bridge," he said.

He said the Qunli viaduct project was about 3.5 km from the Yangmingtan Bridge, a 1.88-billion-yuan ($296 million) project that opened to traffic in November 2011.

City authorities said last year construction of the bridge took 18 months, only about half of the planned three years.

Friday's accident caused public outcry over the safety of public facilities and inadequate management and supervision by government agencies.

Huang, however, suggested on Friday that overloading of some vehicles could be one of the possible causes for the accident. The remarks drew a fierce backlash from the public as many saw it as an attempt to shirk responsibility.

On Saturday, city authorities in Harbin began an overhaul on bridge safety and stepped up screening for overloaded vehicles on the road.

Huang told Saturday's press briefing that seven leading bridge designing specialists recommended by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development were in Harbin to help pinpoint the cause of the accident.

He did not take questions at the press briefing.