Search for survivors
> Anger grows as Italy bridge collapse kills 39
ROME: Rescuers searched for survivors amid the debris of Italy’s bridge collapse yesterday as the death toll climbed to 39 and the government blamed the bridge’s operator, demanding resignations and moving to strip its toll concession.
The 50-year-old bridge, part of a toll motorway linking the port city of Genoa with southern France, collapsed during torrential rain on Tuesday, sending dozens of vehicles crashing onto a riverbed, a railway and two warehouses.
Ivan, 37, evacuated on Tuesday from the nearby building where he works, described the collapse as unbelievable.
“To see a pylon come down like papiermâché is an incredible thing,” he said.
“It’s been a lifetime that we’ve known there were problems. It is in continual maintenance.”
“In the 90s they added some reinforcements on one part, but also underneath you can see rust.”
As cranes moved in to shift truck-sized chunks of broken concrete, hundreds of firefighters searched for survivors, while public shock and grief turned to anger over the state of the 1.2km bridge, completed in 1967 and overhauled two years ago.
Bridge operator Autostrade, a unit of Milan-listed Atlantia group, said it had carried out regular, sophisticated checks on the structure before the disaster and that these had provided reassuring results.
But Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said the private sector manager of the bridge had earned “billions” from tolls but “did not spend the money they were supposed to” and its concession should be revoked.
He was apparently referring to Autostrade.
“Imposing the highest penalties possible and making sure that those responsible for the dead and the injured pay up for any damages and crimes is the very least,” he said.
Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said he had begun a process to strip Autostrade of its concession and he demanded top Autostrade managers resign.
“Autostrade per l’Italia was not able to fulfil its obligations under the contract regulating management of this infrastructure,” Toninelli said, adding he would also seek to levy heavy fines against the company.
Genoa police put the death toll at 39, with 15 injured. – Reuters