Engineer warned in 1979 of risk to bridge

ROME — The Italian engineer who designed the Genoa bridge that collapsed and killed dozens warned four decades ago that it would require constant maintenance to remove rust given the effects of corrosion from sea air and pollution on the concrete.

RAI state television on Sunday broadcast excerpts of the report that the late engineer Riccardo Morandi penned in 1979, 12 years after the bridge bearing his name was inaugurated in Genoa.

At the time of writing, Morandi said there was already a “well-known loss of superficial chemical resistance of the concrete” because of sea air and pollution from a nearby steel plant.

He recommended using an epoxy resin to cover the reinforcements with materials “of a very high chemical resistance”.

A huge section of the bridge collapsed on Aug 14 during a fierce storm, killing 43 people and forcing the evacuation of nearby residents in the densely built-up area.

The death toll from the disaster rose to 43 on Sunday after firefighters discovered three bodies, reported to be those of a couple and their 9-year-old daughter, overnight inside a car extracted from the rubble of the viaduct.

The findings mean all those reported missing after Aug 14 tragedy have been accounted for, although rescuers are continuing to comb the wreckage.

The head of the government’s investigation team, Roberto Ferrazza, said a preliminary survey suggested a series of possible causes and not just a simple collapse.