PARIS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation Wednesday into the collapse of a bridge in southern Italy following the death of French nationals, state-run radio France Info reported.
An inquiry into "involuntary homicide and...injuries" had been launched after the foreign ministry confirmed four French nationals among the dead.
The victims were a group of tourists who had been making their way to Genoa port to catch a ferry to Sardinia, an island to the southwest of Italy.
One of the victims was from southwest prefecture of Tarn, another from Lyon and two others from the southern town of Toulouse, according to BFMTV news channel.
On Tuesday, about 100-meter section of Morandi Bridge collapsed in Genoa amid torrential rains, sending dozens of vehicles crashing onto a riverbed, a railway and two warehouses.
At least 39 people were killed and multiple went missing in what Italian authorities called "an immense tragedy."
Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini declined to say how many people might still be buried in the debris where over 1,000 rescue workers searched for victims.
Preliminary investigation has indicated more of "a human error" than torrential rains that lead to the accident.
Built in the 1960s, the bridge linking the port city of Genoa with southern France was desperately in need of a makeover, not because it was built decades ago. There are ancient bridges in Rome that still stand.
As death toll continues to climb, politicians squabbled over blame.
The collapse exposed long-standing problems linked to Italy's infrastructure including design flaws, poor maintenance and more fundamentally, corruption, serving as a test for the new government, a coalition of two parties that took power in earlier June.
