Italian firefighters said a number of cars may have fallen after a raised section of the A10 motorway fell in Genoa and Italy’s ambulance service is reported as saying ‘dozens’ may have been killed. A fire service spokesperson told AFP that the bridge had mostly fallen on rail tracks 100m below and that “cars and trucks” had fallen with the rubble.
About 10 vehicles were involved when the structure, known as the Morandi bridge collapsed, Italian news agencies reported. Private broadcaster Sky TG24 said a 656-feet section went down over an industrial zone.
Images posted by state police and witnesses showed a huge section of the bridge missing. Parts of the structure also landed on the rooftops of nearby buildings. The bridge was built in the 1960s and stands about 328 feet tall.
#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) August 14, 2018
The Italian fire service said that the viaduct, located in an industrial area in the west of the city, collapsed at around 10am Irish time.
Television images showed the viaduct in the mist with a huge chunk missing, with Italian media reporting that 200 metres of the Morandi bridge had fallen away.
A witness recorded the following video from his office moments after the collapse of the roadway.
#14agosto il video del crollo di #PonteMorandi a #Genova Polcevera Morandi@VAIstradeanas @DPCgov @emergenzavvf @Viminale @ComunediGenova @StradeAnas pic.twitter.com/9viaWCfAcu
— Polizia di Stato (@poliziadistato) August 14, 2018
A rescue mission was underway for survivors. Authorities suspected structural weakness was the cause of the collapse, ANSA reported. A witness told Sky Italia television he saw “eight or nine” vehicles on the bridge when it collapsed in what he said was an “apocalyptic scene”.
Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said in a tweet that he was “following with great apprehension what seems like an immense tragedy”.
Shares of Atlantia, the Italian infrastructure and construction company that manages highways, slumped as much as 6.2% on the news, most intraday in more than 2 years and was the biggest decliner on FTSE MIB. According to Bloomberg, Atlantia lists A10 Genoa-Serravalle as one of the highways its Autostrade per l’Italia unit operates.
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