Death toll in Italian bridge collapse may rise to over 50
● Prosecutor says there could be up to 20 people still unaccounted for
The death toll from the collapse of a highway bridge in the Italian city of Genoa that is already confirmed to have claimed 39 lives will certainly rise, a senior official said yesterday. “Unfortunately, the toll will increase, that’s inevitable,” Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said.
Searchers continued to comb through tons of jagged steel, concrete and dozens of vehicles that plunged as much as 150ft into a dry river bed on Tuesday, the eve of Italy’s main summer holiday.
Mr Salvini declined to cite a number of the missing, saying that would be “supposition,” but separately Genoa’s chief prosecutor, Francesco Cozzi, told reporters there could be between ten and 20 people still unaccounted for.
“The search and rescue operations will continue until we find all those people that are listed as missing,” Sonia Noci, a spokeswoman for Genoa firefighters, said.
Italy is planning a state funeral for the dead in the port city tomorrow, which will be marked as a day of national mourning. The service will be held in a pavilion on the industrial city’s fair grounds and led by Genoa’s archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella has said the collapse is an “absurd” catastrophe that has stricken the entire nation.
At least six of the dead are foreigners – four French citizens
0 A fireman accompanies a displaced resident to pick up her belongings near the bridge
and two Albanians. Authorities say they don’t know how many vehicles were on the bridge when it collapsed in a violent rain storm.
Mr Cozzi has said the investigation of the cause is focusing on possible inadequate maintenance of the 1967 Morandi Bridge or possible design flaws.
In an interview on SKYTG24 TV yesterday, he said that there was a video of the collapse.
Outside experts will study the video to see if it might help determine the cause.
Since the cause is yet to be ascertained, there are “no suspects” at this point, the prosecutor said.
But he added that prosecutors are considering possible eventual charges that include multiple manslaughter.
Premier Giuseppe Conte says his government won’t wait until prosecutors finish
investigating the collapse to withdrawtheconcessionfrom the main private company that maintains Italy’s highways, Atlantia.
The bridge links two heavily travelled highways, one leading to France, the other to Milan. A 20 millioneuro project to upgrade the bridge’s safety had already been approved, with public bids to be submitted by September.