Frantic search for Genoa bridge disaster survivors
Leader vows he will take action as viaduct collapse death toll rises to 35
A frantic search was under way Wednesday for survivors under the shattered remains of a motorway bridge in Genoa, Italy 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 45m 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.
He praised firefighters who worked tirelessly through the night. Rescuers recovered three bodies overnight, fire official Emanuele Gissi said.
“All accessible spaces have been explored, now we are moving the largest pieces of debris,” Gissi said.
“We cannot know if there are survivors remaining, but it’s our job to search,” he said.
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.
“Italians have the right to modern and efficient infrastructure that accompanies them safely through their everyday lives,” Mattarella said.
Rescuers scoured through the wreckage, strewn among shrubland and train tracks, as rescue helicopters winched survivors on stretchers from the ruined bridge.
Between firefighters police and other emergency service, around a thousand people have been mobilised in the rescue effort, according to the Civil Protection service.
As cars and trucks tumbled off the bridge, Afifi Idriss, 39, a Moroccan lorry driver, just managed to come to a halt in time.
“I saw the green lorry in front of me stop and then reverse so I stopped too, locked the truck and ran,” he said.
Others that plunged down with the bridge managed to escape unscathed, including a former goalkeeper for Italian Serie A club Cagliari.
“I was driving along the bridge, and at a certain point I saw the road in front of me collapse, and I went down with the car,” Davide Capello told TV news channel Sky TG24.
The incident – the deadliest of its kind in Europe since 2001 – is the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, a country prone to damage from seismic activity but where infrastructure generally is showing the effects of a faltering economy.
Aerial footage showed more than 200m of the viaduct, known locally as the Morandi bridge, completely destroyed.
Salvini, who is co-deputy prime minister and leader of the nationalist League party in the new coalition government, vowed to hold those responsible for the disaster accountable.
“I have gone over this bridge hundreds of times, and I commit to digging and finding out who is responsible for an unacceptable tragedy, because it’s not possible that in 2018 you can work and die in these conditions,” he said. –