Genoa bridge fall survivor pulled from van 60ft up

A BUSINESSMAN who plunged 120ft in the Genoa bridge collapse was rescued by firefighters as his van hung in wreckage 60ft above the ground.

Gianluca Ardini, 28, was driving across the Morandi bridge when it suddenly disintegrated on Tuesday.

The collapse sent the van hurtling toward the ground before it came to rest amid crumpled concrete pylons.

Firefighters had to abseil to the van before painstakingly extracting Mr Ardini and lowering him to the ground, knowing that the slightest false move could cause what was left of the precarious support to collapse.

“We still can’t understand how it was possible for that to happen, but he is alive,” Giulia Organo, his girlfriend who is eight months pregnant, said yesterday. “He held on because he was determined to see the birth of his son.

“The firemen told him he must remain totally still because the slightest movement could have caused another collapse. Then they pulled him out. It’s a miracle.”

The confirmed death toll from the disaster is 38, including three children.

However, authorities have warned that up to 20 people could still be trapped under the rubble along with their vehicles.

Francesco Cozzi, a prosecutor who is investigating the tragedy, said: “There could be 10 to 20 persons still missing.”

Italian emergency services have been working around the clock since the disaster, using a giant jackhammer to break up massive slabs of concrete and cranes to lift the debris away.

“We are still looking for cavities that can hide people, living or not,” said Emanuele Gissi, a fire service official at the scene. Fifteen people were injured when the bridge collapsed, and nine of them remained in a critical condition last night.

About 630 people who were living in 11 apartment blocks beneath the bridge were evacuated. Their homes will probably have to be demolished.

“It’s going to be difficult for those homes to remain because the bridge is dangerous and there is a good chance of more parts of it collapsing,” said Marco Bucci, the mayor of Genoa.

The company that manages the motorway bridge, Autostrade per l’italia, said it wanted to reconstruct the bridge and that the project would take five months.

But the Italian government says it wants to revoke the company’s concession and punish it with a fine of up to €150 million.

Atlantia, the holding company that controls Autostrade, insists that its concession cannot be revoked before the cause of the collapse is determined.

Atlantia, owned by the Benetton fashion group, warned that the government would have to refund the value of the contract, which has at least another 20 years to run.

Matteo Salvini, the interior minister, has demanded that the company offer up to €500million to help deal with the aftermath of the disaster.

But he came under fire yesterday after it emerged that he chose to attend a gala dinner in his honour in Sicily hours after the bridge collapsed.