The car that overtook me disappeared.. like it was swallowed by clouds
Trucker tells of plunge horror
A LORRY driver who came within inches of death in the Morandi Bridge collapse has told of how he saw the car just in front of him being “swallowed by the clouds”.
The horror in Genoa, Italy, claimed at least 39 lives – with victims including a young family off on their holidays.
The death toll could top 50 as 12 people are still fighting for their lives in hospital and 16 others were injured.
Officials confirmed the dead included three kids, aged eight, 12 and 13.
Two days of mourning were declared for yesterday and today.
The truck driver, a father of two named only as FL, was one of the few survivors as the bridge collapsed on to a railway track below. His green truck was pictured on the bridge yards from sheer drop.
The 37-year-old said he had looked in his mirror to see a car overtaking.
“That car stayed in front. I slowed so there was a safe distance – because breaking with that rain was impossible,” he said. “The car in front of me just disappeared. It was like it was swallowed by clouds. I looked up and saw the central pillar of the bridge coming down.”
He said he hit the breaks, adding: “When I saw the edge I had the instinct to slam it in reverse... to escape from that hell. I jumped off the lorry and I ran. I don’t know how it’s possible but I’m alive.”
It is thought the section he was on before reversing ended up in the rubble, along with 30 cars and three lorries.
Electrician Roberto Robbiano, wife Ersilia Piccinino, 41, and son Samuel, eight, died when their car fell 150ft as the 260ft bridge section gave way at 11.30am on Tuesday. The family, from a town north of Genoa, are believed to have been going on holiday to Sardinia. Firefighters found their car under a concrete beam.
Amateur football player Andrea Cerulli
was killed on his way to work. Luigi Matti Altadonna, 35, who died in his work van, was said to be a “model citizen” by his uncle, the mayor in his hometown of Borghetto.
Nurse Marta Danisi, 29, and fiance Alberto Fanfani, 32, were also among the dead. And Chef Juan Carlos Pastenes, 64, his wife Nora Rivera, 47, and their friend Juan Figueroa, 60, were feared dead.
Workers Mirko Vicini, 31, and Bruno Casagrande, 35, of waste management firm Ammiu, were crushed as they worked below the bridge. A third worker was missing. Elisa Bozzo, 34, from the Busalla municipality north of Genoa, was found beneath the rubble. Her Facebook page has been made into a memorial. One comment reads: “I hope to find you in a better world.”
As rescue workers continued to scour the debris, more amazing survivor stories emerged. Giulia Organo, due to give birth next month, told how her partner Gianluca Ardini, 29, survived by clinging to wires 65ft above the ground, despite having a dislocated shoulder, because their baby “gave him strength to survive”.
Mr Ardini, who sells computer games, was on a delivery with colleague Luigi Matti Altadonna, 34, when the bridge gave way. Mr Altadonna, a dad of four, fell to his death.
Giulia said: “I have no words about what happened as I can only think this is a miracle. We can only thank God.”
Yesterday, carpenter Alejandro Cordova, 24, told the Mirror he was one of the first on the scene.
“I’ve never seen so much suffering,” he said. “I heard what I thought was an earthquake but when I went out I heard the people in flats screaming and crying because they were so high they saw what happened.
“I saw two lorries and four cars. They had all landed upright.
“I first went to a new Fiat Panda, the roof was crushed and the driver, in his 50s, was stuck inside. He was still breathing but I couldn’t get him out. I then saw a white lorry with a man in the driving seat. He was stuck. Then I moved to a car where the driver couldn’t breathe. There were three people all in their 20s. They were stuck. The impact had crushed the car to half the size it should have been.
“In another car there was a woman driving and a man half hanging out of the passenger door. She was breathing but stuck. The man wasn’t breathing.
“I was asking everyone to honk their horns if they could hear me but there was just this silence. There was nothing else I could do. I don’t think any survived. I can’t stop thinking how they were all looking upwards.”
A 45-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, said she watched the collapse from her balcony.
She said: “It was like a Hollywood movie. I felt a tremble and it collapsed – with cars and lorries falling with it.
“It didn’t look real, they looked like little toy cars and lorries. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing.”
Davide Capello, 33, ex-goalie at Serie A side Cagliari, said his car fell 30 metres and stopped in a pocket between columns. He said: “It was like the scene from a film, the apocalypse.”
It didn’t look real, they looked like toy cars. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing UNNAMED WITNESS WHO SAW THE BRIDGE COLLAPSE FROM HER BALCONY