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ITALY-ACCIDENT
Floodlight search for survivors after deadly Italy bridge collapse
GENOA, Italy, Aug 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Italian rescuers searched through
the night Wednesday for any survivors under the shattered remains of a
motorway bridge in Genoa as investigators probed what could have caused such
a catastrophic collapse.
Some 30 people were killed on Tuesday when a vast span of the Morandi
bridge collapsed during a heavy rainstorm, sending vehicles and their drivers
plunging 100-metres (330 feet) onto railway tracks below.
Rescuers spent the night searching the tangled remains of the bridge under
floodlights and there are fears the toll could rise in what the Italian
government has called an “immense tragedy”.
The collapse came as the bridge was undergoing maintenance work and as the
Liguria region, where Genoa is situated, experienced torrential rainfall.
“Unfortunately there are around 30 dead and many injured in a serious
condition,” Interior Minister Matteo Salvini told reporters.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said a “catastrophe” had hit Genoa and
the whole of Italy, as attention turned to what might have caused the
collapse and who might be ultimately responsible.
“Italians have the right to modern and efficient infrastructure that
accompanies them safely through their everyday lives,” Mattarella said in a
statement.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said “all infrastructure” across the country
needed to be double-checked. “We must not allow another tragedy like this to
happen again,” he added.
– ‘Not giving up hope’ –
Rescuers scouring through the wreckage, strewn among shrubland and train
tracks, said there were “dozens” of victims, as rescue helicopters winched
survivors on stretchers from the ruined bridge.
Cars and trucks were tangled in the rubble and nearby buildings damaged by
vast chunks of concrete, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
“We’re not giving up hope, we’ve already saved a dozen people from under
the rubble,” a fire official, Emanuele Giffi, told AFP.
“We’re going to work round the clock until the last victim is secured.”
MORE/FI/ 0817 hrs
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As cars and trucks tumbled off the bridge, Afifi Idriss, 39, a Morrocan
lorry driver, just managed to come to a halt in time.
“I saw the green lorry in front of me stop and then reverse so I stopped
too, locked the truck and ran,” he told AFP.
The green lorry was still on the bridge late evening, stopped just short
of the now yawning gap.
The incident — the deadliest of its kind in Europe since 2001 — is the
latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, a country prone to damage
from seismic activity but where infrastructure generally is showing the
effects of a faltering economy.
– ‘Unacceptable’ way to die –
Aerial footage showed more than 200 metres (650 feet) of the viaduct,
known locally as the Morandi bridge, completely destroyed.
“I’m following with the utmost apprehension what is happening in Genoa and
what looks like it could be an immense tragedy,” Transport and Infrastructure
Minister Danilo Toninelli said on Twitter.
Salvini, who is also leader of the nationalist League party in the
coalition government, vowed to hold those responsible for the disaster
accountable.
“I have gone over this bridge hundreds of times, and I commit to digging
and finding out who is responsible for an unacceptable tragedy, because it’s
not possible that in 2018 you can work and die in these conditions,” he said.
The cause of the disaster was not immediately clear, although weather
services in the Liguria region had issued a storm warning Tuesday morning.
The national motorways body said on its website that “maintenance works
were being carried out on the base of the viaduct”, adding that a crane had
been moved on site to assist the work.
– History of collapses –
Genoa, home to half a million people, is located between the sea and the
mountains of northwestern Italy.
Its rugged terrain means that motorways that run through the city and the
surrounding area are characterised by long viaducts and tunnels.
The Morandi viaduct, completed in 1967, spans dozens of railway lines as
well as an industrial zone with several factories.
One factory, immediately next to one of the viaduct’s support columns, was
virtually empty on Tuesday on the eve of a national holiday, and seems to
have sustained minimal damage.
“I live nearby and I cross the bridge every day on foot,” said Ibou Toure,
23, a translator. “I was never sure of it, you’d always hear these noises
whenever lorries were going over.
“When I heard it had collapsed, I wasn’t surprised.”
In March last year, a couple was killed when a motorway overpass collapsed
on their car near Ancona on the country’s Adriatic coast.
A pensioner died in October 2016 when his car was crushed by a collapsing
bridge over a dual carriageway between Milan and Lecco.
That incident was blamed on bureaucratic bungling which led to a fatal
delay in the bridge being closed after it was reported to be showing
significant cracks.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0818 hrs