Lodi News-Sentinel

Officials fear another 10 to 20 missing under collapsed bridge in Italy

- By Lena Klimkeit

ROME — The number of dead following this week’s Genoa bridge collapse could rise further, as state prosecutor­s on Thursday spoke of several more people missing under the rubble.

“There could be another 10 to 20 missing persons,” lead prosecutor Francesco Cozzi said in the Italian port city, according to the ANSA news agency.

Cozzi had placed the death toll at 42 on Wednesday, while local authoritie­s could only confirm 38 deaths.

Rescuers worked through the night with sniffer dogs, the fire brigade wrote on Twitter on Thursday, adding that search operations continue.

But two days after a section of the Morandi motorway bridge crashed nearly 150 feet to the ground, bringing more than 30 cars down with it, hopes of finding survivors were dwindling.

Regional Gov. Giovanni Toti was quoted by ANSA as saying that, as the hours passed, “it is not very likely to find survivors.”

There were varying reports about the length of the section of the bridge that collapsed during stormy weather, ranging from 330 to 820 feet. A source said on Thursday that it was a 590-foot stretch of road.

Among the dead were at least three children, ages 8, 12 and 13. Fifteen people were injured, nine of whom are still in critical condition, according to local authoritie­s.

The bridge was part of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) and was therefore subject to special test and safety requiremen­ts of the European Union, the bloc’s executive said on Thursday.

But the Italian authoritie­s were responsibl­e for implementi­ng these requiremen­ts, the European Commission said.

The commission rejected claims from Italy’s euroskepti­c Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini that EU-imposed spending rules were partly to blame for poor health and safety in the country’s infrastruc­ture. EU states are welcome to set their own priorities within the budget rules, a commission spokesman said.

Motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia has also come in for intense criticism. It had commission­ed for later this year a 20 million-euro ($22.74 million) makeover of its concrete beams, which are suspected to have broken and caused the tragedy.

The government has blamed Autostrade and wants to revoke its license for the motorway.

The company said on Thursday that it invested more than a billion euros annually in maintainin­g the bridge between 2012 and 2017. State prosecutor­s had previously said such an accident was unlikely.

Hundreds of people have been made homeless by the catastroph­e after houses near the crash site were evacuated for safety reasons.

“There is a risk the other parts of the bridge could fall,” a rescuer was quoted by ANSA as saying.

The government declared a 12-month state of emergency on Wednesday for the city of Genoa and announced 5 millions euros ($5.7 million) in emergency funding.

Also on Thursday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said it had launched an investigat­ion into the bridge collapse because several French nationals were killed in the incident.

The French Foreign Ministry said earlier this week that four French nationals were among those who died in the accident.

 ?? LA REPUBBLICA/ROPI/ZUMA PRESS ?? At least 38 people died and five were critically injured when a highway bridge partially collapsed near Genoa, Italy on Tuesday.
LA REPUBBLICA/ROPI/ZUMA PRESS At least 38 people died and five were critically injured when a highway bridge partially collapsed near Genoa, Italy on Tuesday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States