Death Toll Rises to 42 in Italy Bridge Collapse

Aug. 15 -- ROME -- The number of people killed when a motorway bridge collapsed in the Italian city of Genoa has risen to 42, the city's chief prosecutor said on Wednesday, as the search for survivors goes on.

"At the moment, we know of 42 [dead], including three minors," Prosecutor Francesco Cozzi told the RAI state broadcaster, adding that the death toll was still provisional.

Earlier, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said three children - aged 8, 12 and 13 - were among the victims of the collapse, which happened on Tuesday during a heavy thunderstorm.

Some 240 firefighters worked through the night with sniffer dogs to find people among the rubble, the national fire department wrote on Twitter.

Some 30-35 cars and three trucks fell from a height of 45 metres when the flyover, known to locals as Genoa's "Brooklyn Bridge," crashed over the bed of a river, railway tracks and two warehouses.

The Morandi bridge was a key bypass for the north-western city of Genoa, connecting motorways heading west to France and north-east to Milan.

"People who live in Genoa drive through this bridge a couple of times a day," Deputy Infrastructure and Transport Minister Edoardo Rixi, who is from Genoa, told the SkyTG24 news channel.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who on Tuesday interrupted his holiday to visit the scene of the accident, wrote on Facebook that he had experienced "the longest and most difficult day as prime minister."

He pledged an "extraordinary monitoring plan" to verify the condition of Italy's ageing road infrastructure, "because we cannot afford more tragedies like this one."

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli blamed private motorway company Autostrade per l'Italia for the collapse, and called on its management to resign immediately.

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini complained that EU budget discipline rules were preventing Italy from investing in infrastructure upgrades.

Funds that would be spent on health and safety "are not allowed to be billed according to strict ... rules imposed by Europe," the eurosceptic politician told local broadcaster Radio24.

"You always have to ask for permission to spend money," Salvini added.

On Tuesday, Autostrade per l'Italia said the Morandi bridge, built in the 1960s, was undergoing reinforcement work, and was under constant monitoring.

Two years ago, an engineering professor at Genoa university, Antonio Brencich, called the bridge a "failure of engineering" with "very high maintenance costs."

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