 |
| The disaster left one driver's green lorry perched precariously close to the precipice. The 37-year-old driver told Italian media how he had escaped the "hell" of the bridge collapse (AFP Photo/Valery HACHE) |
Genoa
(Italy) (AFP) - Italy's government on Wednesday blamed the firm that operated
the collapsed Genoa bridge for the disaster in which at least 39 people died,
as it announced a state of emergency in the city.
Search
operations, meanwhile, were due to enter a second night with rescuers digging
through mountains of crushed concrete.
A vast span
of the Morandi bridge caved in during a heavy rainstorm in the northern port
city on Tuesday, sending about 35 cars and several trucks plunging 45 metres
(150 feet) onto railway tracks below.
Children
aged eight, 12 and 13 were among the dead, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini
said, adding that more people were still missing. Sixteen people were injured.
The driver
of a green lorry left precariously close to the edge told Italian media how he
had escaped the "hell" of the bridge collapse.
"It
was raining very hard and it wasn't possible to go very fast," he told the
Corriere della Sera daily.
"When
a car overtook me I slowed down... (then) at a certain moment everything shook.
The car in front of me disappeared and seemed to be swallowed up by the clouds.
I Looked up and saw the bridge pylon fall," he said.
"Instinctively,
finding myself in front of the void, I put the van into reverse, to escape this
hell," he added.
Three
Chileans, who live in Italy, and four French nationals were also killed.
The tragedy
has focussed anger on the structural problems that have dogged the decades old
Morandi bridge and the private sector firm Autostrade per l'Italia, which is
currently in charge of operating and maintaining swathes of the country's
motorways.
Deputy
prime minister Luigi Di Maio said the tragedy "could have been
avoided".
"Autostrade
should have done maintenance and didn't do it," he alleged.
Prime
Minister Giuseppe Conte also confirmed that his government would push to revoke
the company's contract for the A10 motorway, which includes the bridge, while
Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said the company should be fined up to 150
million euros ($170 million).
The firm,
which said the bridge had been undergoing maintenance work, however, released a
statement refuting accusations of underfunding of motorway infrastructure.
"In
the last five years (2012-2017) the company's investment in the security,
maintenance and strengthening of the network has been over one billion euros a
year," it said.
'I went
down with the car'
Survivors
recounted the heart-stopping moment when the bridge buckled, tossing vehicles
and hunks of concrete into the abyss.
Davide
Capello, a former goalkeeper for Italian Serie A club Cagliari, plunged with
his car but was unscathed.
 |
The bridge
has been riddled with structural problems since its construction, which
has led
to expensive maintenance and severe criticism from engineering experts
(AFP
Photo/Piero CRUCIATTI)
|
"I was
driving along the bridge, and at a certain point I saw the road in front of me
collapse, and I went down with the car," he told TV news channel Sky TG24.
As cars and
trucks tumbled off the bridge, Afifi Idriss, 39, a Moroccan truck driver, just
managed to stop 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.
While
around a dozen apartment blocks that stand in the shadow of the viaduct were
largely spared the impact of the falling concrete, the Liguria regional
government said some 634 people had been evacuated.
Interior
Minister Matteo Salvini said the homes would have to be pulled down.
'A
tragedy waiting to happen'
The
incident 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.
The Morandi
viaduct, completed in 1967, spans dozens of railway lines.
The bridge
has been riddled with structural problems since its construction, which has led
to expensive maintenance and severe criticism from engineering experts.
On Tuesday
engineering website "Ingegneri.info" called it "a tragedy
waiting to happen".
Conte also
announced after a cabinet meeting Wednesday that a national day of mourning was
being planned.
There would
also be a 12-month state of emergency in Genoa, he said, with five million
euros of funds going into recovery work.
