38 dead in Italy bridge collapse

ROME — The number of people killed during the collapse of a bridge in the Italian port city of Genoa has risen to 38, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday.

"We're currently at 38 confirmed deaths and some people missing," Salvini, who is also co-deputy prime minister, told reporters on the sidelines of an event in the southern region of Calabria.

Salvini is due to arrive in Genoa, on Italy's northwestern coast, in the afternoon.

A frantic search was underway Wednesday for survivors under the shattered remains of a motorway bridge in Genoa as the death toll rose to 35 and investigators probed what caused the catastrophic collapse.

A vast span of the Morandi bridge caved in during a heavy rainstorm in the northern port city on Tuesday, sending about 35 cars and several trucks plunging 45 meters (150 feet) onto the railway tracks below.

"Unfortunately the toll has risen to 35 in the Genoa tragedy, including three children aged eight, 12 and 13 years old," Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said, praising firefighters who worked tirelessly through the night.

Rescuers recovered three bodies overnight, fire official Emanuele Gissi told AFP, after scouring the scene of devastation under floodlights.

"All accessible spaces have been explored, now we are moving the largest pieces of debris," Gissi said, adding that two large cranes were being brought to the site to assist the operation.

"We cannot know if there are survivors remaining, but it's our job to search," he said, adding that the rescue operation would take days.

Sources in the interior ministry told Italian media that 16 people were wounded, including 12 in serious condition.

The collapse came as the bridge was undergoing maintenance work and as the Liguria region, where Genoa is situated, experienced torrential rainfall.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella said a "catastrophe" had hit Genoa and the whole of Italy.