Last of bridge victims found

OUTRAGE MOUNTS AS ITALY BURIES 19

The toll of Genoa’s bridge collapse rose to 43 yesterday as rescuers confirmed they had found the remains believed to be of a missing family – a day after Italy held a funeral for the disaster victims.

Firefighters discovered the three bodies, reported to be those of a couple and their nine-year-old daughter, overnight inside a car extracted from the rubble.

The findings mean that all those reported missing after Tuesday’s tragedy have now been accounted for, although rescuers said the would continue combing the wreckage.

“The fire service is continuing its inspection of the area to rule out the eventual presence of people not reported missing,” Italy’s fire service said on Twitter yesterday

The disaster has caused public outrage and unleashed a fierce debate over the state of Italy’s infrastructure.

The prosecutor investigating the bridge collapse has criticised past management of Italy’s infrastructure.

Francesco Cozzi said the state had “abdicated” its responsibility to ensure road safety by handing motorway management to the private sector, in an interview published in the Corriere Della Sera newspaper yesterday.

The Morandi viaduct dates from the ’60s and has been riddled with structural problems for decades, leading to expensive maintenance.

Autostrade per l’Italia manages almost half of the motorways. Its boss, Giovanni Castellucci, said it would take eight months to build a new steel bridge.

“The philosophy of our system today sees a state stripped of its powers, a sort of absent owner.” he said.

Italy bid farewell to the victims, including several children, in Saturday’s solemn funeral that was boycotted by a majority of the families, who resented the presence of politicians and derided the ceremony as “a farce”.

Thousands of mourners packed into a flower-filled makeshift chapel where the coffins of 19 victims had been lined up.

Shortly after the ceremony, Autostrade announced it would make €500 million (R8.3 billion) available to help those affected by the tragedy.

But co-deputy prime ministers Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini rejected the offer as insufficient.

The government plans to strip Autostrade of all of its lucrative contracts, which total 3 020 km of Italy’s 7 000 km-long motorway network. – AFP