Italian bridge collapse kills at least 22

18:37, 14.08.2018

At least 22 people have died when a motorway bridge collapsed in Genoa, Italy, and the death toll will rise, Italian Deputy Transport Minister Edoardo Rixi said.

“It’s not acceptable that such an important bridge… was not built to avoid this kind of collapse,” Rixi said on Tuesday on SkyNews24, speaking from Genoa. “The central section came down.”

Italian television showed images of the collapsed bridge, which was built on the A10 toll motorway in the 1960s. Restructuring work on the bridge was carried out in 2016.

The private broadcaster Sky TG24 said a 200-metre section of the Morandi Bridge collapsed over an industrial zone.

Amalia Tedeschi, a firefighter, told RAI state TV some 20 vehicles had been involved in Tuesday’s collapse.

She said two people had been pulled alive from vehicles in the rubble that fell into an industrial area below the bridge and were being transported by helicopter to a hospital.

IMaria Luisa Catalano, a police official in Genoa, said authorities were focused on rescue efforts and did not yet know the number of victims or injured.

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