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  1. #1
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    BBC News Italy bridge: Genoa motorway bridge collapses kills at least 11


    A motorway bridge has collapsed near the Italian city of Genoa, sending vehicles plummeting some 100m (328ft) to the ground and killing at least 11 people, local media report.
    Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said it was likely to be "an immense tragedy".
    Local emergency officials have been quoted as saying "dozens" died.
    Video footage appears to show one of the towers holding up the suspension bridge collapsing in stormy weather.
    The police linked the disaster to what they called a violent cloudburst.


    The collapsed section had mostly fallen on to rail tracks below, officials told AFP news agency, adding that cars and trucks had also fallen.
    One image posted by the regional emergency services shows a truck perched at the end of the surviving bridge section immediately before the drop, and says rescue workers are operating en masse at the scene.
    The Morandi Bridge, built in the 1960s, stands on the A10 toll motorway. The missing section was dozens of metres in length, and ran across the span of the Polcevera river.
    Italian newspaper La Repubblica described that part of the city as "densely inhabited".
    The structure collapsed around 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT) during heavy rain.
    "It was just after 11:30 when we saw lightning strike the bridge," eyewitness Pietro M all'Asa was quoted as saying by Italy's Ansa news agency. "And we saw the bridge going down."
    Traffic was queuing on the bridge at the time, an eyewitness told Italian public television.
    Initial reports indicate there may be people trapped in the rubble.

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  2. #2
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    BBC News Italy bridge: Bridge rescuers search into the night in Genoa

    Rescuers in the northwest Italian city of Genoa are searching into the night for possible survivors after the dramatic collapse of a motorway bridge.
    Police say at least 26 people were killed and 15 badly hurt, when dozens of vehicles fell 45m (148ft).
    Reports say cries can be heard from people trapped in the debris. Twelve people are said to be missing.
    Some 300 firefighters from across Italy have been using sniffer dogs and climbing gear in the search.
    Hundreds of people were evacuated amid fears other parts of the bridge might fall.
    Media playback is unsupported on your device

    The cause of the disaster, which occurred during torrential rain, was not immediately clear but questions had been raised about the safety of the structure.
    Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has vowed to bring anyone responsible for the collapse to book.
    The Morandi Bridge, built in the 1960s, stands on the A10 toll motorway, an important conduit for goods traffic from local ports, which also serves the Italian Riviera and southern coast of France.
    What is the challenge facing rescuers?

    "We are continuing with the rescue operations because we think there are other people alive under the rubble," Genoa police spokesperson Alessandra Bucci told Reuters news agency.
    Rescuers from all across northern Italy were at work on the debris.
    The Italian fire service tweeted a video of one person being extracted and carefully lowered on cables from a shattered vehicle, which was suspended in the wreckage of the bridge, high above the ground.
    Between 30 and 35 cars and three heavy vehicles were on the bridge at the time of the collapse.
    A huge tower and sections of the bridge collapsed on to railway lines, a river and a warehouse. Reports suggest that nobody was killed on the ground, although some people were injured.
    Marcello de Angelis, who is co-ordinating the Italian Red Cross rescue effort, told the BBC that rescuers were treating the disaster like an earthquake.
    "There might be the possibility of some niches being created by the rubble itself, with people being protected by the rubble," he said.
    "The units that we have sent are the units that we use during earthquakes. So it is the same sort of situation - and also the risk of other collapses, obviously, is the same."
    How did the bridge collapse?

    A section measuring about 200 metres fell at around 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT). Police say there was a violent cloudburst at the time.
    An unnamed witness quoted by Italy's Ansa news agency said: "We heard an incredible roar and first we thought it was thunder very close by.
    "We live about 5km [three miles] from the bridge but we heard a crazy bang... We were very scared... Traffic went completely haywire and the city was paralysed."
    The collapse of the bridge was an "incident of vast proportions on a vital arterial road, not just for Genoa, but for the whole country", said the governor of Liguria region, Giovanni Toti.
    "The Morandi bridge connects three major ports in our country, used by tens, even hundreds of thousands of people. They depart from these ports on holiday. These docks receive most of our country's imported goods. It damages the very structure of the Italian logistics system. We are expecting a very fast response from the government."
    Mr Borrelli said the authorities were trying to arrange help for those affected by the disaster, as well as setting up diversions for traffic.
    Is Italian infrastructure underfunded?

    The new government has pledged to increase public investment.
    The country spent more than €14bn (£12.5bn; $16bn) on its roads in 2006 but that had dropped to less than €4bn after the 2008 financial crisis, after the according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
    The figures cover spending on new transport construction and the improvement of the existing networks.
    Spending started to increase in 2013, when total spend was less than Spain, Germany, France and the UK.
    How has the world reacted?

    French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted a message of sympathy to the people of Italy, writing in both Italian and French. He said France was ready to offer any necessary aid.
    European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker voiced his "deepest sympathy and sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who have died, and to the Italian people".

    Did you witness the collapse of the bridge? Are you in the area? If safe to do so, please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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  3. #3
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    BBC News Italy bridge: Grief and anger over collapse in Genoa

    Grief in Italy for the 37 victims of a collapsed motorway bridge in Genoa has been mixed with anger that such a vital structure could have simply given way.
    Rescuers are still searching for survivors underneath the Morandi bridge, where almost 40 vehicles fell 45m (148ft) in Tuesday's collapse.
    The cause is not yet known but there have been calls for the heads of the company operating the bridge to resign.
    Survivors have also been recalling the horror of the bridge's collapse.
    What is the latest at the scene?

    Hundreds of firefighters are there, using lifting gear, climbing equipment and sniffer dogs to try to locate any more survivors.
    The local prefecture raised the death toll on Wednesday morning to 37. Three children aged eight, 12 and 13 lost their lives.
    Media playback is unsupported on your device

    The city's authorities have declared two days of mourning.
    There are 16 people being treated in hospital, 12 of them in a serious condition.
    Some 440 people have been evacuated from the area amid fears other parts of the bridge might fall.
    The Morandi Bridge, built in the 1960s, stands on the A10 toll motorway, an important conduit for goods traffic from local ports, which also serves the Italian Riviera and southeast coast of France.
    Who are the victims?

    Families in their cars, people going to work, people going on holiday. It could take many hours to find out exactly how many people died and identify them.
    Counsellors are on hand at emergency centres to help relatives.
    Some of the names of the victims have been appearing in Italian media.

    • A family of three were killed after their car fell from the bridge - Roberto Robbiano, Ersilia Piccinino, and their seven-year-old son Samuel
    • Amateur footballer Andrea Cerulli died as he was driving to work
    • Two workers for municipal environmental company Amiu, who were working in a van under the viaduct and were crushed
    • Luigi Matti Altadonna, 35, Juan Carlos Pastenes, 64, and Elisa Bozzo, 34, were named by Corriere Della Sera as victims

    What have survivors been saying?

    One of the most telling testimonies came from Davide Capello, 33, a former goalkeeper for Serie A side Cagliari.
    His car fell 30m in the collapse but came to rest in a pocket between the columns and he survived.
    "I was able to get out... I don't know how my car wasn't crushed. It seemed like a scene from a film, it was the apocalypse," he said.
    Valentina Galbusera, 43, a doctor, told La Stampa: "The bridge fell in front of me, not even 20m away, I avoided the collapse by only a couple of seconds. I felt the bridge was shaking and I tried to reverse. Then I got out of the car and started running."
    Moroccan lorry driver, Afifi Idriss, 39, told Agence France-Presse: "I saw the green lorry in front of me stop and then reverse so I stopped too, locked the truck and ran."
    What has the official reaction been?

    Wednesday brought an angry response to the collapse from Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli.
    He called on the top management of Autostrade per L'Italia, which oversees maintenance, to resign, saying it had failed to meet its contractual obligations. He said he would seek to fine the company heavily and revoke its operational licence.
    The company has not yet responded, although a spokesman earlier said there had been constant inspections.
    The Genoa Public Prosecutor's Office has already opened an investigation into possible negligent homicide.
    Interactive Genoa bridge collapse before and after

    Italian police, August 2018

    Google, May 2015




    Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said that "no-one who is found guilty of this disaster will go unpunished".
    PM Giuseppe Conte said: "We must not allow another tragedy like this to happen again."
    Were safety warnings ignored?

    The state of the bridge and the responses to the collapse throw light on what has been a long-standing debate about Italian infrastructure.
    This was the fifth bridge collapse in Italy in five years, according to Corriere Della Serra.
    There have been previous reports and comments questioning how the Morandi bridge was built and how long it could last.
    In December 2012, the Genoa city council discussed the state of the bridge at a public hearing into how to expand the local transport infrastructure. A local industry confederation official spoke of the collapse of the Morandi bridge "in 10 years".
    In 2016, structural engineer Antonio Brencich spoke of "errors in this bridge".
    More recently, an internet page linked to Italy's Five Star Movement, which the party says was not official but which discussed infrastructure in the area, appeared to deny the bridge was in danger and spoke of "the fairy tale of the upcoming collapse of the Morandi Bridge", Il Messagero reports.
    Italian media have also been pointing to Mr Toninelli's own comments two weeks ago appearing to oppose a major infrastructure project in the area, work his deputy Edoardo Rixi said was fundamental.
    The issue of transport in the area is now critical, given that the bridge was a major arterial route for an important port city.
    PM Conte has said all infrastructure across the country will be double-checked.
    What went wrong at Morandi?

    Engineers and politicians have insisted no-one should jump to conclusions.
    There was torrential rainfall at the time and one official said lightning strikes would have to be investigated.
    A huge tower and sections of the bridge - measuring about 200m - collapsed on to railway lines, a river and a warehouse.
    The motorway operator said work to shore up the bridge's foundation was being carried out at the time. Poorly carried out maintenance can sometimes be a factor in a bridge collapse.
    Autostrade per l'Italia admitted in 2011 the bridge had been suffering from degradation due to heavy traffic.
    Did you witness the collapse of the bridge? Are you in the area? If safe to do so, please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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  4. #4
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    BBC News 'Everyone was screaming to run'


    In driving rain, brake lights suddenly illuminated an Italian motorway. Then the screaming started.
    "Out, out now. Collapse."
    A UK family have told the BBC of their terror, after being caught up in the collapse of a bridge in Genoa on Tuesday which killed at least 39 people.
    Nicola and Lisa Henton-Mitchell, from Bicester, Oxfordshire, were four days into a three-week holiday with their two children when they were forced to abandon their hire car and run for their lives.
    "We had stopped at a service station to use the toilet," Lisa said. "Thank God, or it could have been worse."
    Speaking from the hotel where they spent Tuesday night, she recalls the chaos as people fled to take shelter in a tunnel.
    "I was driving. The rain was so severe you could only see a few cars in front of you," Lisa said.
    "Something didn't feel right. We felt we were sliding to the right."
    "The car moved sideways and we shuddered," Nicola explains. "We thought it was the wind but now we wonder if it was the road twisting."
    Traffic suddenly came to a standstill.
    "Everyone's red lights came on," Lisa said.
    "Then it seemed like seconds later the reverse lights came on.
    "The car in front reversed and crashed into us. Nobody could really move."
    People closer to the site of the collapse ran towards them, shouting and screaming. The family ran back towards the tunnel through which they had recently driven.
    "When we ran from the car my daughter didn't have her shoes on," Nicola told the BBC. The couple's daughter has a disability which affects her mobility, but it was not possible to carry her.
    "My son grabbed a rucksack with a few bits in. Fortunately it had our passports and a phone in. Everyone just ran into the tunnel."
    "Car doors and lorry doors were being opened constantly," Lisa adds.
    "When we got to the tunnel, everybody was crying, distraught."
    Soaked and frightened, the family took shelter in the tunnel with other survivors. Few could speak English, so it was difficult to get information about what had happened. Fortunately, the family encountered a Belgian couple who could translate.
    "They kindly gave the children some dry tops to put on," Lisa said.
    "It went round that the bridge had collapsed."
    Police officers pulled drivers to one side and started the process of recovering the vehicles they could reach. But Nicola and Lisa's car was too far away.
    "We were just around the bend," Nicola said.
    "They've cleared cars up to 250 metres from the tunnel but we were further in so our car is still there."
    A bus transported the people sheltering in the tunnel to a civic centre in Genoa. The authorities provided people there with water, clothes and blankets, while a volunteer helped them to find a hotel.
    In the hotel, exhausted, the children were able to sleep.
    "We've tried to shield them from how serious it was," Lisa said.
    The family asked their travel insurance company to fly them home but they have refused.
    They have little more than their money and passports, but are thankful to all the "truly lovely, kind people" who have helped them.
    By Chris Bell, BBC UGC and Social News team
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  5. #5
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    Default Re: Italy bridge: Genoa motorway bridge collapses kills at least 11

    I think the death toll will rise to a lot more than what it is now

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Italy bridge: Genoa motorway bridge collapses kills at least 11

    Terrible this, i have driven over that bridge a few times, and always think to myself, shit this is high up.

    Thanks to ilscuro

    piggzy (15th August 2018)  


  7. #7
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    BBC News Italy bridge collapse: 'We just ran for our lives'

    [unable to retrieve full-text content]
    Nicola and Lisa Henton-Mitchell survived the bridge collapse with their two children in Genoa.

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  8. #8
    Mummy's little soldier I Black Belt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Italy bridge: Genoa motorway bridge collapses kills at least 11

    This won't be an easy one to sort in terms of blame and why. There are so many factors at play with a bridge like this.

  9. #9
    DF VIP Member MHP's Avatar
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    Default Re: Italy bridge: Genoa motorway bridge collapses kills at least 11

    AvE has done a great 'why and how' on this;

    Thanks to MHP

    beansontoast (15th August 2018)  


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