Aging Italian works under scrutiny for failure
Up to 300 bridges, viaducts and tunnels in Italy are at risk of structural failure, experts warned, as the death toll from the collapse of a bridge in Genoa rose to 39, including three children.
There were fears that the number of fatalities could rise further. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister, said it was hard to tell how many people were still unaccounted for simply because they were on vacation or “under the rubble”.
Rescuers were continuing to search the rubble but hopes were fading of finding anyone alive.
“We are no longer hearing any audible signs of life, but we are not going to stop searching,” said Luciano Roncalli, a fire service officer. “Due to the huge slabs of cement there is still a chance of surviving in a big void inside the rubble, so just because we cannot hear anything doesn’t mean there is no hope.”
Emergency officials used hydraulic cranes to carefully lift away large chunks of reinforced cement, before trying to detect signs of life with sniffer dogs, cameras and listening devices.
“Everyone in Genoa knew the bridge was in bad condition, but as usual it is we citizens who pay the price for these national disgraces,” said Barbara Logrippo, 43, who lives in the area.
As Italians asked how such a large and crucial structure could simply disintegrate without warning, details emerged of the people who lost their lives in the disaster.
Among the victims was a young Italian couple and their seven-year-old son. Roberto Robbiano, his wife Ersilia Piccinino and their son Samuele all died when their car plummeted 50 metres to the ground after a huge section of the Morandi bridge suddenly collapsed during a thunderstorm on Tuesday.
The family were heading off on holiday to Sardinia when the bridge collapsed.
The disaster claimed the lives of another couple - Marta Danisi, 29, a nurse, and Alberto Fanfani, 32, an anesthetist from Florence. They were due to get married next year.
About 70 per cent of Italy’s 15,000 motorway bridges and tunnels are more than 40 years old, many of them built during the post-war boom but now carrying far more traffic than they were designed for.
Lack of investment, poor maintenance and, in some cases, the involvement of mafia-run building companies that use poor quality concrete to increase profits, could all contribute to disasters like the one in Genoa.
“They have problems that, if not addressed in time, could potentially lead to structural failures,” a leading structural engineer told La Repubblica newspaper. “The problem is not so much knowing which structures are at risk, but having the money to finance repairs and maintenance,” said the expert.