Motorway bridge in Genoa, Italy collapses

[stripeyfox]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45183624

 

A major motorway bridge has collapsed near the northern Italian city of Genoa, leading to vehicles falling some 100m (328ft).

Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said it was likely to be "an immense tragedy".

Adnkronos news agency reports the head of the local ambulance service as saying there are "dozens of dead".

Video footage appears to show one of the towers holding up the suspension bridge collapsing in stormy weather.

The police linked it to what they called a violent cloudburst.

The collapsed section had mostly fallen on rail tracks below, officials told the 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.

Skip Twitter post by @emergenzavvf

View image on Twitter

Vigili del Fuoco

 

✔@emergenzavvf

 

 

#14ago #Genova 12:00, crolla parte del ponte Morandi sulla #A10. Le squadre #vigilidelfuoco stanno operando in massa, attivatinteam usar e cinofili

11:21 AM - Aug 14, 2018

•  
  575
•  
  826 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

 

 

 

The bridge, built in the 1960s, is known as the Morandi bridge. The missing section was dozens of metres in length, and ran across the span of the Polcevera stream.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica described that part of the city as "densely inhabited".

The structure collapsed shortly before noon local time (10:00 GMT) during heavy rain. Video shared by the police of the incident suggests a major vertical support, as well as the road itself, was part of the collapse.

[spacemunky]

Yikes!

[urban.spaceman]

Some of the pictures/videos are shocking. Collapsed right in the middle over what looks like a residential estate. Awful. 

[stripeyfox]

At least 22 confirmed fatalities according to Sky News

 

 

[TheyCallMeMrCarbohydrate]

Just imagine being the guy driving the lorry that stopped near the edge...

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Horrific! So very sad.

[Wymsey]

Tragic and unexpected considering you'd imagine these types of infrastructure, that are heavily used, are inspected for any faults etc often.

[whoareyaaa]

7 minutes ago, Wymeswold fox said:

Tragic and unexpected considering you'd imagine these types of infrastructure, that are heavily used, are inspected for any faults etc often.

looks bad looking at that

[StanSP]

mad seeing all the pictures and videos of it. begs the question of if it was safe for use in all weather or if the road should have been shut for unfortunate weather. looks devastating though.

 

 

[VLC86]

Someone on 5 live said this bridge was known as ‘the sick bridge’ and they were actually working on it when it collapsed. The government blatantly knew this was unsafe but because of the importance of the route they didn’t close it. Tragic.