Dozens feared dead after bridge collapses

A highway bridge has collapsed over the Italian port city of Genoa, killing dozens of people in what the transport minister said was likely to be “an immense tragedy”.

A section of the bridge crashed down from a height of about 50m over a river, railway tracks and buildings during torrential rainfall on Tuesday.

The head of the city’s ambulance service said there were “dozens of dead”, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos. At least 20 vehicles were involved, police said.

Helicopter footage on social media showed trucks and cars stranded on either side of the 80m-long collapsed section of the bridge, which was built in the 1960s.

An ambulance official said “we suppose there are unfortunately a lot of dead”.

Restructuring work on the bridge, which was 1.2km long in total, was carried out in 2016.

The highway operator said work to shore up the foundation of the bridge was being carried out at the time of the collapse.

The highway is a major artery to the Italian Riviera and to France’s southern coast.

A witness told Sky Italia television he saw “eight or nine” vehicles on the bridge when it collapsed in what he said was an “apocalyptic scene”.

Transport minister Danilo Toninelli said in a tweet that he was “following with great apprehension what seems like an immense tragedy”.