Bridge victims’ families boycott opening of replacement
WITH a rainbow as the backdrop, Italy’s president and other dignitaries inaugurated a new bridge in Genoa yesterday. However, the families of those killed when the Morandi Bridge collapsed boycotted the event, along with the firefighters who pulled many of the 43 dead from smashed cars and trucks.
Two years ago this month, a stretch of the Morandi Bridge suddenly gave way in a violent rainstorm, sending vehicles plunging to the dry riverbed below. The new bridge – a key artery for the northwestern Italian port city – was erected thanks to round-the-clock construction, even during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rain drenched the new bridge just before the ceremony, which started with the national anthem and are citation of the names of the dead.
But shortly before the ceremony, the downpour ended and a rainbow arched over a nearby hillside.
The families of the dead agreed to meet with President Sergio Mattarella privately before the event but announced they were skipping the ceremony. They’re angry, not with him, but upset that the company which maintained Morandi Bridge will still run the new bridge for a while more, since poor maintenance is being investigated as a possible cause of collapse.
“No one can give us back our dead,’’ said Egle Possetti, who leads an association of the bridge victims’ families.
Ms Possetti, who lost a sister and other family members in the collapse, said she hoped attention would stay focused on the ongoing criminal investigation into the collapse.
Firefighters who battled clouds of debris dust to extract survivors and bodies from tons of twisted metal also boycotted the ceremony in solidarity with the families, according to Sky TG24.
Prosecutors are probing what caused Morandi Bridge to collapse on August 14, 2018, on the eve of Italy’s biggest summer holiday.
Riccardo Morandi, the engineer who designed the bridge that was built in the 1960s, had recommended continual maintenance to remove rust. Prosecutors have said they are investigating to see if proper maintenance was consistently carried out over the years.
Earlier this summer, the Italian government forged a deal in which the Benetton fashion family agreed to exit Autostrade per l’Italia, the company that manages and maintains many of Italy’s highways and bridges.
Designing the new span was Genoa native Renzo Piano, a renowned architect. The design features 43 lamps in memory of the dead.