Italy looks for who to blame in Genoa bridge collapse
Transport minister calls on senior managers of company operating bridge to resign
As more bodies were pulled Wednesday from a mountain of rubble left by a highway bridge collapse in the northern Italian city of Genoa that left 39 dead, prosecutors focused on possible design flaws and past maintenance of the heavily used span, and politicians squabbled over blame.
Motorists, meanwhile, recounted miraculous escapes and the horror of seeing others plunge over the edge.
As a second night descended on the site where part of the Morandi Bridge plunged some 45 metres, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini declined to say how many people might still be buried in the debris where about 1,000 rescue workers searched for victims.
The collapse occurred about midday Tuesday, the eve of Italy's biggest summer holiday, when traffic was particularly busy on the 51-year-old span that links two highways — one leading to France, the other to Milan.
Salvini declined to say how many people are still missing and he added that trying to locate them was particularly difficult due to the holiday.
"It's not easy to distinguish between who doesn't respond because they are on the other side of the world and turned off their phone to relax [and] who's not responding because they are under the rubble," he said.
Authorities urged the quick removal of tons of debris from a dry river bed so that the rubble doesn't create a makeshift dam if heavy rains fall in the flood-prone city on the Mediterranean.
Debris also must be cleared from railroad tracks, a vital link especially now that Genoa is largely cut in half by the loss of such a key artery, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.
Authorities worried about the stability of remaining large sections of the bridge, prompting a wider evacuation order and forcing about 630 people from nearby apartments, some practically in the shadow of the elevated highway. Firefighters went inside some of the vacated apartments briefly to retrieve documents and, in at least one home, pet cats.
Building a new bridge could require razing the evacuated buildings, said Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli.
After leading an emergency cabinet meeting in Genoa, Conte said there were 39 confirmed dead and 16 injured, including nine in serious condition. Three children were among those killed, Salvini said.
The dead included four French citizens and two Albanians.
'It wasn't an accident'
Genoa prosecutor Francesco Cozzi told reporters the investigation into the collapse was focused on human causes, specifically any possible design flaws in the bridge's construction or any inadequate maintenance.
He said he didn't know who might be responsible, but added: "It wasn't an accident."
Asked if authorities had any warning that the bridge could be dangerous, Cozzi indicated that no serious safety concerns had reached his office before the collapse.
Otherwise, "none of us would have driven over that highway 20 times a month, as we do," he said.
A 20 million euro ($29.8 million Cdn) project to upgrade the bridge's safety had already been approved, with public bids to be submitted by September. According to business daily Il Sole, improvement work would have involved two weight-bearing columns that support the bridge — including one that collapsed Tuesday.
Learn more about how the bridge collapsed:
The bridge, considered innovative when it opened in 1967 for its use of concrete around its cables, was long due for an upgrade, especially since it was more heavily trafficked than its designers had envisioned.
One expert, Antonio Brencich at the University of Genoa, had previously called the bridge "a failure of engineering." Other engineers, noting its age, said corrosion and decades of wear-and-tear from weather also could have been factors in the collapse.
Italian politicians pointed fingers at possible culprits.
Conte said the government wouldn't wait until the investigation was completed to revoke the concession of a private company, Autostrade Per L'Italia, that operates many of the nation's toll highways. The next company would be held to "more stringent" rules for maintenance.
Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio, of the anti-business Five-Star Movement, alleged Autostrade's holding company took profits "instead of investing money for maintenance."
Toninelli, the transportation and infrastructure minister and another populist 5-Star leader, said his ministry had started procedures so Autostrade could be fined up to 150 million euros ($223 million Cdn).
