The bridge in Genoa before and after the collapse. Twitter/Google Maps/Business Insider
- A huge highway bridge collapsed in the northern Italian city of Genoa on Tuesday morning.
- Italy’s deputy transport minister has confirmed the death of 22 people and said the death toll will rise.
- 20 vehicles and buildings below the bridge were involved in the disaster, according to the minister.
- One person has been pulled alive from the rubble and transported to a hospital by helicopter, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
- Photo and video footage on social media show a huge portion of the bridge missing and rubble on the ground beneath.
At least 22 people have been killed and the death toll will rise after a highway bridge collapsed in the northern Italian city of Genoa, the country’s deputy transport minister said in a television interview.
Edoardo Rixi was speaking on SkyNews24 in Genoa when he said that the collapse was “not acceptable.” He said eight people were injured.
The governor of the Liguria region, which contains Genoa, said that the current death toll of 22 will rise “significantly,” according to news agency Reuters.
One person has been pulled out alive from the rubble under the bridge and is being transported to a hospital by helicopter, Italian news agency ANSA reports. At least 20 vehicles were involved in the collapse, according to Rixi, and the disaster had affected people in the buildings below — although he did not elaborate.
The collapsed Morandi bridge was a section of the A10 motorway, near the city center. The collapse took place as torrential rain fell in the region at 11.30 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
The section of the bridge that collapsed was around 80 meters (262 feet) long and 50 meters (164 feet) above the ground, according to news agency Reuters, and crossed over railway tracks and some buildings.
The head of the ambulance service said there were “dozens of dead”, according to Italian news agency Adnkronos.
Photos of the aftermath show a large portion of the Morandi bridge missing. (Luca Zennaro/ANSA via AP
Photographs from the scene show rubble on the ground underneath the bridge and a number of buildings underneath it.
Image and videos posted to Twitter after the collapse show a large portion of the bridge missing.
#BREAKING Motorway bridge collapses near #Genoa, victims feared: #Italy media pic.twitter.com/37BNpjz3Kp
— Guy Elster (@guyelster) 14 de agosto de 2018
#14ago #Genova 12:00, crolla parte del ponte Morandi sulla #A10. Le squadre #vigilidelfuoco stanno operando in massa, attivatinteam usar e cinofili pic.twitter.com/gjSJLvjw1K
— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) 14 de agosto de 2018
Genova, Italy. Another chilling image from my native region: a lorry stops meters from the gap left by a stretch of the suspension bridge which collapsed on the A10 motorway in Genoa this morning. #morandi pic.twitter.com/w2GpIMl5iU
— Carlo Gianuzzi (@bonhomme69) 14 de agosto de 2018
The area below the bridge is heavily built up, footage shows.
Violento nubifragio #Genova #crollo parte del viadotto Polcevera-Morandi Km 0,200 su autostrada A10
Uscita obbligatoria Genova aeroporto direzione Ventimiglia
Uscita obbligatoria bivio A10 con A7 direzione Genova @StradeAnas @DPCgov @emergenzavvf @Viminale @ComunediGenova pic.twitter.com/7YJINjFWRX— Polizia di Stato (@poliziadistato) 14 de agosto de 2018
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, said on Facebook that he and other officials were closely monitoring the disaster response.
The bridge was built in the 1960s, and restructuring work was carried out on the bridge in 2016, Reuters reports.
Source: http://uk.businessinsider.com
