Minneapolis ? Navy divers continued probing the wreckage of a collapsed bridge for bodies Wednesday, and officials said they expected removal of heavy debris to begin later than expected to give the divers time to do their work.

At the dive site, two large cranes were ready to go. But they sat idle as divers returned to the water about 7 a.m., doing “a very meticulous, hand-over-hand search of the scene,” Senior Chief Dave Nagle said.

Navy and FBI dive teams are trying to go deeper into the debris of the Interstate 35W bridge than the local dive teams that have worked since the Aug. 1 collapse, police Capt. Mike Martin said. He said he expects it to be at least a week before cranes start regularly hauling out large pieces of debris.