Death toll rises to 39

ITALIAN emergency workers pulled two more bodies out of tons of broken concrete and twisted steel last night after a highway bridge collapsed in Genoa, raising the death toll in the disaster to at least 39 people.

The collapse of the Morandi Bridge sent dozens of cars and three trucks plunging as much as 45 metres to the ground as many Italian families were on the road ahead of a major summer holiday. The collapse took place after a violent storm.

Civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli confirmed last night that 39 people had died and 15 were injured. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said three children were among the dead.

Working with heavy equipment, rescuers climbed over concrete slabs with sniffer dogs all through the night and into the day, searching for survivors or bodies. Borrelli said 1,000 of them were at the scene.

Investigators, meanwhile, were working to determine what caused an 80-metre long stretch of highway to break off from the bridge.

Italian politicians, for their part, were trying to find who to blame for the deadly tragedy.

The 1967 bridge, considered innovative in its time for its use of concrete around its cables, was long due for an upgrade, especially since the structure was more heavily trafficked than its designers had envisioned.