Section of motorway bridge comes down during storm in port city in northern
ItalyAt least 22 people have died after a motorway
bridge collapsed in the northern
Italian city of
Genoa.
An 80-metre section of the Morandi Bridge on the A10 motorway came down in an industrial area of the port city during a sudden and violent storm at about 11.30am (0930 GMT).
The death toll was given at the scene by Edoardo Rixi, the deputy transport minister. At least eight people have been injured, and four people pulled alive from the rubble, he added.
About 20 vehicles including cars and trucks were on the affected section of the bridge when it fell 100 metres, mostly onto rail tracks, the fire service said.
Rescue workers compared the conditions to the aftermath of an earthquake, as sniffer dogs searched through the rubble and heavy equipment was moved in to lift pieces of the bridge.
Witnesses described an apocalyptic scene.
Alberto Lercari, a bus driver, told Corriere della Sera: “I saw people running towards me, barefoot and terrified. I heard a roar. People ran away coming towards me. It was horrible.”
Davide Ricci, who had been travelling south, told La Stampa, “The debris landed about 20 metres from my car. First the central pillar crumbled and then everything else came down.”
The transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, said in a tweet that he was “following with great apprehension what seems like an immense tragedy”.
Genoa is located between the sea and the mountains of north-west Italy. Its rugged terrain means motorways run through the city and the surrounding area via long viaducts and tunnels.
The disaster occurred on a major artery to the Italian Riviera and to France’s southern coast. Traffic would have been heavier than usual as many Italians were travelling to beaches or mountains on the eve of a public holiday, Ferragosto.
The Morandi Bridge, which was inaugurated in 1967, is 90 metres high and just over 1km long. Restructuring work on the bridge 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, and the bridge was constantly monitored.
Andrea Montefusco, an engineering expert at Luiss University in Rome, said: “It’s difficult to make any serious hypothesis right now. Some people are saying maybe lightning could have struck a cable on the bridge, but at this moment it’s too early to say anything about the cause.
“It [the bridge] was a sort of jewel in Italian engineering, because at that time it was built with new engineering techniques. I used to enjoy passing over the bridge as a child, it was a novelty.”
