Bridge collapse in Italy:
At least 22 30 35 people have been killed ‘including a baby’ and dozens more are feared dead after a huge 260ft section of a highway bridge collapsed during a fierce storm in the Italian city of Genoa. Cars fell 300ft along with tonnes of twisted steel and concrete debris into a river, railroad tracks and an industrial zone below when the Morandi bridge gave way at 11.30am local time.
Officials have said ‘dozens’ are dead in what is being described as ‘an immense tragedy.’ One witness described the carnage as ‘apocalyptic’ with up to 35 cars and three heavy trucks cascading into the valley below as they were making their way over the bridge. Rescuers desperately hunting for survivors are now fearful of explosions from damaged gas lines and some areas have been evacuated while safety checks take place.
Incredibly, two people have been pulled alive from cars found in the mangled ruins of the bridge while two warehouses below the structure were empty having been closed for the summer holiday.
The highway bridges around Genova are pretty dilapidated in general. From Rome all the way up to the French border, they also tend to be alarmingly high, which makes these collapses even more dangerous. I suspect that one unanticipated consequence of this is going to be an even harder government line on immigration; Italians are in no mood to keep spending large quantities of money on refugees and immigrants when their national infrastructure is literally collapsing.
The video almost makes it look as if a bomb went off, and indeed, one Italian journalist said, Sembra che una bomba abbia colpito la città. “It’s like a bomb hit the city.”
