Photo taken on Aug. 14, 2018 shows a partially collapsed bridge in Genoa, Italy. At least 22 people died in the collapse of a major motorway bridge in the northwest Italian city of Genoa on Tuesday. (Xinhua)
by Alessandra Cardone
GENOA, Italy, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The search for survivors of a dramatic bridge collapse in the northwest Italian city of Genoa would continue through the night, Italian officials said late on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the official toll of victims rose to 23 people, the region of Liguria (of which Genoa is capital city) stated on Twitter.
"All of the bodies were sent to the San Martino hospital, and 19 of them were identified," the regional authorities stated.
They also said 15 wounded were distributed among three hospitals across the city, and many were in critical conditions.
Yet, the death toll was expected to rise further, as soon as rescuers would reach people still trapped under rubble.
"The account (of victims and injured) is already high at this moment," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in fact told state-run RAI 1 TV channel after visiting the scene.
"Unfortunately, from what I was able to see, we fear there might be more victims," Conte added.
The incident involved a major motorway viaduct called "Morandi Bridge" connecting the western part of Genoa to the east. The bridge partially collapsed shortly before noon on Tuesday, while at least 30 cars and 5 heavy trucks were passing through it.
According to ANSA news agency citing firefighter sources, up to 35 people might have died in the crash.
Yet, the civil protection agency coordinating the emergency said it would not confirm such figure, as long as rescue operations continue.
"The search and rescue activities will continue through the nightly hours, until it will be ascertained nobody is still under rubble," a Fire Corp officer from Genoa headquarters told Xinhua.
"We have between 20 to 25 teams at the scene, and reinforcements have been sent from other regions, such as Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Emilia Romagna," the officer added.
The Civil protection's Operational Director for Emergency Coordination, Luigi D'Angelo, also stressed the search efforts would go on.
"Teams of rescuers have been organized in order to keep searching all through the night," the officer told a press conference late on Tuesday.
Many hours after the dramatic collapse, cars and heavy vehicles could still be see lying crushed under huge concrete debris on both sides of the bridge. The structure was 1,182 meters long, and the portion that caved in was about 50 meters high.
The collapse concerned some 100 meters of the bridge, and occurred while the city was being slashed by heavy rain, which hampered the first rescue operations.
The viaduct is major connection between the western and eastern part of Genoa -- a key commercial port in Italy and southern Europe -- and connections were heavily disrupted.
Some 300 firefighters were at work with 92 rescue vehicles, according to the Fire Corp, along with about 100 police and civil service officers. Dog units were also involved since the beginning in the search for survivors.
The municipality said 440 people living in 11 buildings around the area were evacuated for security reasons. Meanwhile, ministers of Interior Matteo Salvini, of Infrastructures Danilo Toninelli, and of Economic Development Luigi Di Maio all announced they would visit Genoa on Wednesday.
The city's chief prosecutor Francesco Cozzi said a criminal probe will be launched into culpable manslaughter and culpable disaster -- so far against a person or persons unknown -- to ascertain whether the collapse was due to negligence, Ansa news agency reported.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella sent a message of solidarity to the city, and he also warned in a statement that after this phase of "common efforts to face the emergency... a thorough and severe examination of the causes must follow".
"No authority can evade full responsibility," Mattarella said.
Two days of mourning were declared by Genoa mayor Marco Bucci on Aug. 15-16.
