Genoa death toll jumps to 39 in span collapse, official says
GENOA, Italy — Italian prosecutors focused their investigation into the Genoa bridge collapse on possible design flaws or inadequate maintenance, as the death toll rose Wednesday to 39 and Italian politicians looked for someone to blame.
Fears mounted that another part of the Morandi Bridge, which was carved in two by the collapse of its midsection during a storm Tuesday, could also come crashing down. That prompted authorities Wednesday to widen an evacuation zone around the bridge, forcing some 630 people out of apartments in nearby buildings.
Transportation and Inf rastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli raised the possibility that the evacuees may never again live there, saying the need to rebuild a new bridge on the city's key artery could require the destruction of nearby residential buildings.
On Tuesday, just as many Italians were driving to vacation destinations on the eve of Italy's biggest summer holiday, a 260foot-long stretch of the bridge collapsed, sending over 30 cars and three trucks plunging up to 150 feet to the ground.
Still dazed or shaken, survivors Wednesday recounted their brushes with death.
One truck driver provided a dramatic account, including a description of how a green truck stopped just short off the abyss and of police heroism as the 51-year-old bridge crumbled.
The trucker, identified only as Idris, said the green truck was saved after a car passed, forcing its driver to brake slightly. The car then plunged into the chasm.
“That truck driver is the luckiest in the world,” Idris told Sky TG24.
Idris credited police for arriving quickly and moving some 150-200 people who were on the bridge to safety in a tunnel.
As this crippled Mediterranean port city of 600,000 reeled from the tragedy, about 1,000 rescue workers kept up the search for victims, picking through tons of broken concrete slabs, smashed vehicles and twisted steel. At least two bodies were pulled out.
The tons of debris that rained down from the bridge landed in a dry stream bed, along a railroad track or crashed down close to apartment buildings.
At one point, Sky TG24 said, residents were temporarily blocked from even returning to their homes to grab documents, medicine or other necessities.
After the search for bodies ends, tons of debris needs to be cleared away.
Genoa is a flood-prone city, and authorities warned that the concrete could become a dam within hours of heavy rains.
Civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli confirmed Wednesday that 39 people had died and 15 were injured.
Genoa Prosecutor Francesco Cozzi told reporters the investigation into the collapse was focused on human causes.
A $22.7 million project to upgrade the bridge's safety had already been approved, with public bids to be submitted by September. According to the business daily Il Sole, the improvement work involved two weight-bearing columns that support the bridge — including one that collapsed Tuesday.
The 1967 bridge, considered innovative in its time for its use of concrete around its cables, was long due for an upgrade..
One expert, Antonio Brencich at the University of Genoa, had previously called the bridge “a failure of engineering.”