Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department, in a statement, said the two adults had been identified as Ronany Ting, 33, who was driving the vehicle, and Siti Aisha Abdullah, 36.

The seven children were Mohd Ahmad Mohd Hamdan, aged four months, Muhd Mustaqim Mohd Hamdan, five, Mohd Aiman Mohd Hamdan and Wallace Phang, both seven, Alvin Phang, 12, Khairunnisa Muhamad, 14, and Nor Shuhada Mohamad, 16.

They were pronounced dead at the Beladin health clinic at 7pm.

Initial investigations revealed that all the victims were related to each other and were heading to Kuching from Sibu when the tragedy happened.

Further investigations are required to identify the actual cause of the incident.

Earlier, the department received an emergency call at 3.14pm and sent two teams from the Simunjan and Saratok fire stations to the scene.

The scene of the tragedy is 62km from Simunjan and 98km from Saratok.

According to a video that went viral on social media, villagers and the public managed to recover the bodies of the victims, including the children, while waiting for the authorities to arrive.

Bernama reports that the Triso ferry service provides a link to the Sarawak coastal road project, known as the Sarawak Second Trunk Road, which passes through several wide rivers. This is the choice of road users due to the ongoing construction of the Pan Borneo Highway.