‘Boundless pain’ as victims are mourned
ITALY BRIDGE COLLAPSE
ROME — Italy mourned those killed in the collapse of a bridge in the northern city of Genoa with a state funeral Saturday as the country struggled to come to terms with a tragedy critics said could have been avoided, and as some families of the victims boycotted the event.
Flags flew at half-staff across the country on a day of national mourning; stores shut their doors or draped black ribbons on their windows, and a solemn ceremony was held in Genoa for 19 victims of the Aug. 14 collapse. On Saturday, the death toll stood at 39, with 10 people still in the hospital, six in serious condition.
The families of some victims shunned the funeral ceremony to protest what they saw as a country that had betrayed their loved ones by not ensuring their safety.
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the archbishop of Genoa, who led the funeral ceremony, said in his homily the collapse “caused a laceration in the heart of Genoa.”
“The wound is deep, created above all by the boundless pain for those who have lost their lives and for the missing, for their family members, the wounded, the many who have lost their home,” he said.
The Mass was offered in an immense pavilion that usually holds part of Genoa’s trade fair, one of the city’s principal commercial activities. The collapse of the bridge, a major artery connecting the eastern and western parts of the city, has put Genoa’s economy at serious risk.
The ceremony, which was broadcast live on Italian television stations, was interrupted by applause when Bagnasco read the first name of each confirmed victim. Most were Italian, but others were Albanian, Chilean or French.
Dozens of firefighters attended the ceremony, and their presence was met with applause and handshakes, an acknowledgment of their tireless efforts — more than 100 uninterrupted hours — to help the dead and wounded.
The funeral followed the Roman Catholic ritual, but the families of two Muslim victims were present, and an imam led a prayer after the Catholic rite.
He prayed that Genoa, “our Genoa,” “beautiful Genoa,” would be able to “lift itself up.”
Bagnasco spoke of suffering, and the solidarity the city had shown and received.
“The highway that collapsed, as is known, was not just an important piece of highway, but a necessary route for the daily life of many, an essential artery for the development of the city,” the cardinal said.
He asked the city not to give up. “We can build new bridges and walk together,” he said.
In contrast, tempers flared Friday in Torre del Greco, near Naples, at the funeral of four young men, four friends in their 20s, who had died while on the way to Barcelona, Spain.
“Why did they die,” asked Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the archbishop of Naples, who presided over the ceremony. “Some say this is the moment of suffering and mourning and we shouldn’t think about the causes and responsibilities,” the cardinal said. But he added, “It’s not right to die because of negligence, carelessness, irresponsibility, superficiality, bureaucracy or boredom.”
Rescue workers, meanwhile, continued their search Saturday for the missing, digging through the rubble. An official at Genoa’s prefecture said a car had been found and identified as belonging to a family of three, but the bodies had not been found. Another person listed among the missing had contacted relatives, the official said, calling it “the only good news.”
The body of an unidentified male victim was found Saturday afternoon, another official said. He could not say whether it belonged to Mirko Vicini, 30, who had worked in a warehouse that was partly crushed by the debris. The Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Saturday that Vicini’s mother had not moved from the site of the collapse since Tuesday.
Luca Cari, a spokesman for Italy’s firefighters, said their work would continue “until all the rubble has been cleared.” Only then would they be certain no one else had been killed by falling debris.
Some of Italy’s top officials, including President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, also attended the state funeral Saturday.