Anger mounts over Italy bridge collapse
Despite dwindling expectations of finding survivors, rescuers say they haven’t given up hope as they press on with operation to search through the unstable mountains of debris
GENOA: Rescuers used diggers to claw through mountains of rubble, calling out in the hope of inding survivors as a desperate search for victims of the viaduct collapse entered its fourth day on Friday with up to 20 people still missing.
Italy’s government has intensified its attacks on the operator of the decades-old Morandi bridge, which buckled without warning on Tuesday, sending cars, trucks and huge chunks of concrete plunging 45 metres onto railway tracks below.
Anger is rising over the tragedy that left dozens dead and the structural problems that have dogged the viaduct for decades.
Despite dwindling expectations of inding survivors, rescue workers said they had not given up hope as they pressed on with the dangerous operation to search through the unstable mountains of debris.
“Is there anyone there? Is there anyone there?” one firefighter shouted into a cavity dug out of the piles of concrete and twisted metal, in a video published by the emergency services.
Cranes and bulldozers are working to help clear the site as hundreds or rescuers try to cut up and remove the biggest slabs of fallen bridge.
“We are trying to ind pockets in the rubble where people could be — alive or not,” ire oficial Emanuele Gissi told AFP. With the provisional toll at 38 dead, Genoa’s chief prosecutor has said that between 10 and 20 people could still be missing.
The populist government has accused infrastructure giant Autostrade per L’italia of failing to invest in suficient maintenance — a claim the company denies — and said it would seek to revoke its lucrative contracts.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini demanded that the company offer up to 500 million euros ($570 million) to help families and local government deal with the aftermath of the disaster.
“If we’ve put up ive million euros, they should offer 500 million,” he told reporters.
“There needs to be an immediate, concrete and tangible signal for these families: they should put their hands on their hearts and in their wallets.”
Authorities plan a funeral service for the victims on Saturday, coinciding with a day of mourning.
But local media said some families have chosen instead to hold private funerals, including the relatives of 24-year-old Stella Boccia, killed alongside her boyfriend.
The dead also include children, one as young as eight, and three Chileans and four French nationals. Fifteen people were injured, ive of whom are in serious condition.