Italy motorway collapse: 39 dead in Genoa tragedy; rescuers scour through wreckage of bridge for survivors

Genoa, Italy: About 39 people were killed on Tuesday when a giant motorway bridge collapsed in heavy rain in the Italian city of Genoa in what the government called an “immense tragedy”. The collapse, which saw a vast stretch of the A10 freeway tumble on to railway lines in the northern port city, came as the bridge was undergoing maintenance work and as the Liguria region, where Genoa is situated, experienced torrential rainfall. “Unfortunately there are around 30 dead and many injured in a serious condition,” Interior Minister Matteo Salvini told reporters. Rescuers scouring through the wreckage, strewn among shrubland and train tracks, said there were “dozens” of victims, as rescue helicopters winched survivors on stretchers from the ruined bridge. Cars and trucks were tangled in the rubble and nearby buildings damaged by vast chunks of concrete, according to an AFP photographer at the scene. The incident — the deadliest of its kind in Europe since 2001 — is the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, a country prone to damage from seismic activity but where infrastructure generally is showing the effects of economic stagnation. [caption id=“attachment_4967401” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A large section of the bridge collapsed over an industrial area in the Italian city of Genova during a sudden and violent storm. AP[/caption] Patrick Villardry, a French firefighter who came from Nice to help the rescue effort, said the task was huge. “The first victims have been evacuated and now we have to search under the wreckage of buildings, but there are thousands of tonnes of concrete,” he said. President Giuseppe Conte was due to visit the scene later Tuesday. ‘Unacceptable to die like this’ Aerial footage showed more than 200 metres of the viaduct, known locally as the Morandi bridge, completely destroyed. “I’m following with the utmost apprehension what is happening in Genoa and what looks like it could be an immense tragedy,” Transport and Infrastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli said on Twitter. Salvini, who is also leader of the nationalist League party in a power-sharing government, vowed to hold those responsible for the disaster accountable. “I have gone over this bridge hundreds of times, and I commit to digging and finding out who is responsible for an unacceptable tragedy, because it’s not possible that in 2018 you can work and die in these conditions,” he said. The cause of the disaster was not immediately clear, although weather services in the Liguria region where Genoa is situated had issued a storm warning on Tuesday morning. The national motorways body said on its website that “maintenance works were being carried out on the base of the viaduct”, adding that a crane had been moved on site to assist the work. Shares in Italian company Atlantia, which runs much of Italy’s motorway network, including the collapsed stretch of the A10, plunged on the Milan stock exchange after the news. The shares were temporarily suspended when their slide exceeded 10 percent and closed the day down more than five percent at €23.54. History of collapses European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, in a statement, expressed “my deepest sympathy and sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who have died, and to the Italian people”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also sent her condolences. Genoa, home to half a million people, is located between the sea and the mountains of northwestern Italy. Its rugged terrain means that motorways that run through the city and the surrounding area are characterised by long viaducts and tunnels. The Morandi viaduct, completed in 1967, over-spans dozens of railway lines as well as an industrial zone housing several factories. One factory, immediately next to one of the viaduct’s support columns, was virtually empty on Tuesday due to a national holiday, and seems to have sustained minimal damage. In March 2017, a couple were killed when a motorway overpass collapsed on their car near Ancona on the country’s Adriatic coast. A pensioner died in October 2016 when his car was crushed by a collapsing bridge over a dual carriageway between Milan and Lecco. That incident was blamed on bureaucratic bungling which led to a fatal delay in the bridge being closed after it was reported to be showing significant cracks.