By PAOLO SANTALUCIA and FRANCES D’EMILIO
The Associated Press
GENOA, Italy — Italian emergency workers pulled two more bodies out of tons of broken concrete and twisted steel Wednesday after a highway bridge collapsed in Genoa, raising the death toll in the disaster to at least 39 people.
The collapse of the Morandi Bridge sent dozens of cars and three trucks plunging as much as 150 feet to the ground Tuesday as many Italian families were on the road ahead of Wednesday’s major summer holiday. The collapse took place after a violent storm.
Civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli confirmed Wednesday that 39 people had died and 15 were injured. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said three children were among the dead.
Working with heavy equipment, rescuers climbed over concrete slabs with sniffer dogs all through the night and into the day, searching for survivors or bodies. Borrelli said 1,000 of them were at the scene.
Investigators, meanwhile, were working to determine what caused an 260-foot-long stretch of highway to break off from the bridge in the northwestern port city.
Italian politicians, for their part, were trying to find who to blame for the deadly tragedy.
The 1967 bridge, considered innovative in its time for its use of concrete around its cables, was long due for an upgrade, especially since the structure was more heavily trafficked than its designers had envisioned. One expert in such construction, Antonio Brencich at the University of Genoa, had previously called the bridge “a failure of engineering.”
An unidentified woman who was standing below the bridge told RAI state TV that it crumbled Tuesday as if it were a mound of baking flour.
Engineering experts, noting that the bridge was 51 years old, said corrosion and weather could have been factors in its collapse.
The Italian CNR civil engineering society said structures dating from when the Morandi Bridge was built had surpassed their lifespan. It called for a “Marshall Plan” to repair or replace tens of thousands of Italian bridges and viaducts built in the 1950s and 1960s. It said that simply updating or reinforcing the bridges would be more expensive than destroying and rebuilding them with new technology.
Mehdi Kashani, an associate professor in structural mechanics at the University of Southampton in the U.K., said pressure from “dynamic loads,” such as heavy traffic or strong winds, could have resulted in “fatigue damage” in the bridge’s parts.
Italy’s minister of transportation and infrastructure, Danilo Toninelli, said there was a plan pending to spend $22.7 million on bids for significant safety work on the bridge.
While the collapse’s cause is yet to be determined, political bickering moved into high gear Wednesday.
Toninelli, from the populist 5-Star Movement, threatened in a Facebook post that the state, if necessary, would take direct control of the highway contractor responsible for the bridge if it couldn’t properly care for the roads and bridges it was responsible for.
State radio reported Wednesday that some 5-Star lawmakers in 2013 had questioned the wisdom of an ambitious, expensive infrastructure overhaul program as possibly wasteful, but that a post about that on the Movement’s site was removed Tuesday after the bridge’s collapse.
Within hours after the collapse, Salvini was trying to shift the blame away from Italy’s new populist government, vowing not to let European Union spending strictures on Italy, which is laden with public debt, stop any effort to make the country’s infrastructure safe.
Genoa is a flood-prone city, and officials were warning that the debris from the collapse must be removed as soon as possible. Some of the wreckage landed in a dry riverbed that could flood when the rainy season resumes in a few weeks.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis led prayers Wednesday for the victims of the Genoa bridge collapse.
Speaking to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square, Francis expressed his “spiritual closeness” to the victims, the injured and their families, and the hundreds of local people who were forced to evacuate their homes in the area.
D’Emilio reported from Rome. Simone Somekh in Rome and Danica Kirka in London contributed.
Source: OC Register
Death toll hits 39 in Italy bridge collapse; blame begins
More from BusinessMore posts in Business »
- LA’s Gas Company Tower, dumped by owner, faces foreclosure sale
- 2 California airports lead nation in fare hikes
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
- Southern California’s hiring pace 16% below normal
- Sold a home recently? Here’s what you’ll get from the $418 million Realtor settlement
More from NewsMore posts in News »
- Judge says ex-Trump attorney, Chapman Law dean John Eastman should be disbarred in California
- LA County to end psychological screening of DCFS trainees under $2.7 million settlement
- LA’s Gas Company Tower, dumped by owner, faces foreclosure sale
- ‘A terrible, terrible, unforeseen tragedy’: Six construction workers presumed dead in bridge collapse
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
More from technologyMore posts in technology »
- Scientists hack weather satellite data to quantify methane leaks
- Nature, trails and…tech? How AllTrails CEO aims to make the outdoors more accessible than ever
- House passes bill that would lead to a TikTok ban if Chinese owner doesn’t sell. Senate path unclear
- Newport Beach chipmaker Tower Semiconductor furloughing staff amid slowdown
- ‘I slept with my half-brother’: Woman’s horror story reflects loosely regulated nature of US fertility industry
More from Top Stories BreezeMore posts in Top Stories Breeze »
- LA County to end psychological screening of DCFS trainees under $2.7 million settlement
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
More from top stories ivdbMore posts in top stories ivdb »
- LA County to end psychological screening of DCFS trainees under $2.7 million settlement
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
More from Top Stories LADNMore posts in Top Stories LADN »
- LA County to end psychological screening of DCFS trainees under $2.7 million settlement
- LA’s Gas Company Tower, dumped by owner, faces foreclosure sale
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
More from Top Stories LBPTMore posts in Top Stories LBPT »
- LA County to end psychological screening of DCFS trainees under $2.7 million settlement
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- 2 California airports lead nation in fare hikes
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
More from Top Stories OCRMore posts in Top Stories OCR »
- Judge says ex-Trump attorney, Chapman Law dean John Eastman should be disbarred in California
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Dave Min and Scott Baugh set up November showdown in CA-47 race
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
More from Top Stories PEMore posts in Top Stories PE »
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
- Southern California’s hiring pace 16% below normal
More from Top Stories PSNMore posts in Top Stories PSN »
- LA County to end psychological screening of DCFS trainees under $2.7 million settlement
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
More from top stories rdfMore posts in top stories rdf »
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
- Southern California’s hiring pace 16% below normal
More from Top Stories SGVTMore posts in Top Stories SGVT »
- LA County to end psychological screening of DCFS trainees under $2.7 million settlement
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
More from top stories sunMore posts in top stories sun »
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
- Southern California’s hiring pace 16% below normal
More from Top Stories WDNMore posts in Top Stories WDN »
- LA County to end psychological screening of DCFS trainees under $2.7 million settlement
- The Real Tarzann’s zoo near Temecula targeted by PETA, code enforcement
- Embattled LA developer accuses its financial chief of looting $40 million intended for homeless housing
- Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse probe expected to examine cargo ship’s reported loss of power
- Teamster drivers extend their labor strike to Amazon’s Industry warehouse
More from UncategorizedMore posts in Uncategorized »
- Rules of engagement shifting for police and homeless and mentally ill
- US home sales hit strongest pace in a year
- Good news for gray whales: “Unusual Mortality Event” declared over
- Homebuilder Toll Brothers sees ‘meaningful uptick in demand’
- Rebecca Grossman’s daughter testifies that Scott Erickson threatened her
More from World NewsMore posts in World News »
- Russia concert hall attack suspects appear in a Moscow courtroom
- Putin says gunmen who raided Moscow concert hall tried to escape to Ukraine. Kyiv denies involvementPutin says gunmen who raided Moscow concert hall tried to escape to Ukraine. Kyiv denies involvement
- Double cancer blow to Kate and King Charles leaves Britain’s royal family depleted and strained
- Bird flu is decimating seal and sea lion colonies. Scientists don’t know how to stop it
- US, allies warn Iran against deal to send missiles to Russia
Be First to Comment