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Graphic shows location of the Morandi Bridge.
GN38238EN

DISASTER

Highway bridge collapses in Genoa

By Ninian Carter

August 14, 2018 - A bridge on a main highway linking Italy with France collapsed in the Italian port city of Genoa during a sudden, violent storm, sending vehicles plunging 45 metres (nearly 150 feet) into a heap of rubble below. A transport official said at least 22 people were killed and eight injured in the tragedy.

A huge section of the Morandi Bridge collapsed over an industrial zone, sending tons of twisted steel and concrete debris onto rail tracks and warehouses below.

Amalia Tedeschi, a firefighter, told RAI state TV that some 20 vehicles, including cars and trucks, were caught up as an 80m (260ft) stretch of the bridge collapsed. She said two people were pulled alive from vehicles in the rubble and transported by helicopter to hospital.

Italy’s transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, called the collapse “an enormous tragedy.”

The disaster occurred on a highway that connects Italy to France, and northern cities like Milan to the beaches of Liguria. It came on the eve of the major holiday of Ferragosto, the high point of the Italian summer holiday season when most cities and businesses are closed and Italians head to the beaches or the mountains, meaning that traffic was heavier than usual on the Genoa highway.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 14/08/2018; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Google Maps
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