Italy motorway bridge collapses over Genoa, 'dozens' feared dead

[snoop1130]

Italy motorway bridge collapses over Genoa, 'dozens' feared dead

 

A motorway bridge which collapsed on Tuesday near the northern Italian port city of Genoa is seen in this picture released by Italian firefighters on August 14, 2018. Italian Firefighters Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

 

ROME (Reuters) - A motorway bridge collapsed on Tuesday over the northern Italian port city of Genoa in what the transport minister said was likely to be "an immense tragedy".

 

The head of the local ambulance service said there were "dozens of dead", Italian news agency Adnkronos reported.

 

The local fire brigade said also victims were likely after the bridge collapsed at around 11:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) during torrential rainfall.

 

An ambulance official told Reuters the service could only confirm two injured people so far, "but we suppose there are unfortunately a lot of dead."

 

Italian television showed images of the collapsed bridge, which was built on the A10 toll motorway in the 1960s. Restructuring work on the bridge was carried out in 2016.

 

It crumbled over a river, railroad tracks and buildings.

 

An witness told Sky Italia television he saw "eight or nine" vehicles on the bridge when it collapsed in what he said was an "apocalyptic scene".

 

Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said in a tweet that he was "following with great apprehension what seems like an immense tragedy".

 

Shares in Atlantia, the toll road operator which runs the motorway, were suspended after falling 4.6 percent after news of the collapse.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-8-14

[snoop1130]

Italy bridge: Genoa motorway bridge collapses 'killing at least 10'

 

The shattered bridge spanned a stream into which much of the rubble fell

 

A major motorway bridge has collapsed near the 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", while police sources said at least 10 people had died.

 

The head of the local ambulance service was quoted by one source as saying there were "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.

 

 

 

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

 

-- © Copyright BBC 2018-8-14

 

[Briggsy]

Check out the lorry stopped just before the edge.

[KhunBENQ]

Can torrential rain and storm excuse the collapse of a concrete motorway bridge?

NO!

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Restructuring work on the bridge was carried out in 2016.

I assume the responsible company will have to answer some questions?

[chickenslegs]

In the first seconds of this video there seem to be a couple of flashes (lightening?) as the bridge collapses ...

 

[4MyEgo]

4 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Can torrential rain and storm excuse the collapse of a concrete motorway bridge?

NO!

I assume the responsible company will have to answer some questions?

More than likely something to do with one of the piers in the water giving way, from what, maybe the weight, I am no engineer.  

[4MyEgo]

1 minute ago, chickenslegs said:

In the first seconds of this video there seem to be a couple of flashes (lightening?) as the bridge collapses ...

 

Denotation ?

[snoop1130]

Italy motorway bridge collapse kills at least 22 - deputy minister

Reuters Staff

 

Rescue workers are seen at the collapsed Morandi Bridge in the Italian port city of Genoa, Italy August 14, 2018 in this still image taken from a video. Local Team via Reuters TV/REUTERS

 

ROME (Reuters) - The motorway bridge that collapsed in Genoa, Italy, on Tuesday killed at least 22 people and the death toll will rise, Italian Deputy Transport Minister Edoardo Rixi said in a television interview.

 

“It’s not acceptable that such an important bridge... was not built to avoid this kind of collapse,” Rixi said on SkyNews24, speaking from Genoa. “The central section came down.”

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-8-14

[JAG]

29 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Denotation ?

Perhaps the bridge was also carrying some power cables?

[ratcatcher]

This tragedy, loss of life etc, will create absolute chaos for ages. A major piece of infrastructure gone................

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

More than likely something to do with one of the piers in the water giving way, from what, maybe the weight, I am no engineer.  

I thought it was a hang bridge.

 

Why speculate?

[kotsak]

I've read elsewhere that the 50 yo bridge was showing signs of deterioration and there was lack of maintenance and some locals, whose properties are exactly under the bridge, have been complaining for years.

 

Some links:

http://www.agrigentonotizie.it/cronaca/viadotto-morandi-maremaico-tg1-agrigento-marzo-2017.html

http://www.robertosabaphotography.com/not-over-my-backyard/

 

 

Edited August 14, 2018 by kotsak

[webfact]

Search for survivors after Italian motorway collapse kills at least 26

By Stefano Rellandini

 

The collapsed Morandi Bridge is seen in the Italian port city of Genoa, Italy August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

 

GENOA, Italy (Reuters) - Firefighters searched into the night on Tuesday for survivors and bodies amid the rubble of a motorway bridge that collapsed in the northern Italian port city of Genoa, killing at least 26.

 

While that remained the official death toll, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said from Genoa that the number would rise. The ANSA news agency reported that it could reach around 35, citing fire brigade sources.

 

A 50-metre (160-foot) high section of the bridge, including a tower that anchored several stays, crashed down with as many as 35 vehicles driving on it in torrential rain. Huge slabs of reinforced concrete plunged onto two warehouses, train tracks and a riverbed.

 

In its latest update, the government of the Liguria region tweeted that 19 bodies had already been identified and 15 people had been admitted to hospital, nine in critical condition.

 

More than 400 people were evacuated from buildings near or below the still-standing section of the bridge. The collapse appeared not to have killed anyone beneath the bridge, only people driving over it, the civil protection agency said.

 

Firefighters heard voices under the rubble and pulled out seven survivors, fire official Bruno Frattasi told the state broadcaster RAI.

 

"We hope to find more people alive," police official Alessandra Bucci said.

 

Within hours of the disaster, the anti-establishment government that took office in June said the collapse showed Italy needed to spend more on its dilapidated infrastructure, ignoring EU budget constraints if necessary.

 

"We should ask ourselves whether respecting these limits is more important than the safety of Italian citizens.

Obviously for me, it is not," said Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the right-wing League, which governs with the 5-Star Movement.

 

"THEY WILL PAY"

The government has already pledged to increase public investment and lobby the European Commission to have the extra spending excluded from EU deficit calculations.

 

Salvini also said he wanted the "names and surnames of those who are to blame, because a tragedy like this in 2018 is not acceptable."

 

"They will have to pay, pay for everything, and pay a lot," he said.

 

Aerial footage showed trucks and cars stranded on either side of the 80-metre long collapsed section of the Morandi Bridge, built on the A10 toll motorway in the late 1960s. One truck was shown just metres away from the broken end of what locals called their "Brooklyn Bridge".

 

Motorist Alessandro Megna told RAI state radio he had been in a traffic jam and seen the collapse:

 

"Suddenly the bridge came down with everything it was carrying. It was really an apocalyptic scene, I couldn't believe my eyes."

 

An official for the civil protection agency said there had been 30 cars and five to 10 trucks on the section that fell.

 

Some 300 firefighters were working in the wreckage, using sniffer dogs to try to locate survivors, along with 400 police.

 

"People living in Genoa use this bridge twice a day," said Deputy Transport Minister Edoardo Rixi, who is from the city. "We can't live with infrastructure built in the 1950s and 1960s."

 

Map of bridge location

 

BRIDGE 'CONSTANTLY MONITORED'

Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli told state television that the disaster pointed to a lack of maintenance.

 

Autostrade, a unit of the infrastructure group Atlantia <ATL.MI>, controlled by the Benetton family, manages the section of the toll highway that collapsed.

 

"The collapse was unexpected and unpredictable. The bridge was constantly monitored and supervised well beyond what the law required," Stefano Marigliani, the Autostrade official responsible for the Genoa area, told Reuters.

 

He said there had been no indication that the bridge was dangerous.

 

Autostrade said it would work with investigators, and that it was already assessing how to rebuild the bridge.

 

In a 2016 interview posted online, Antonio Brencich, a University of Genoa professor specialising in reinforced concrete construction, said: "This bridge is usually characterised as a masterpiece of engineering, but in reality it is a failure of engineering."

 

He did not say at the time that it was in danger of collapsing, but that it required continuous maintenance and would eventually have to be torn down and replaced.

 

The 1.2 km-long bridge was completed in 1967 and overhauled in 2016. The motorway it carries is a major artery from northern Italy's industrial centres to the Italian Riviera and to France's southern coast.

 

Autostrade said work to reinforce the slab under the road surface was going on at the time of the collapse.

 

Premier Conte visited the rescue teams in Genoa, saying afterward that Italy's infrastructure should be more closely monitored.

 

Atlantia shares closed down more than 5 percent.

 

(Additional reporting by Giulia Segreti, Valentina Za, and Ilaria Polleschi in Milan, and Angelo Amante, Massimiliano Di Giorgio, and Stefano Bernabei in Rome; Writing by Gavin Jones and Steve Scherer; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-08-15

[4MyEgo]

9 hours ago, stevenl said:

I thought it was a hang bridge.

 

Why speculate?

It's my opinion, take on it, why not speculate, it's called working the brain, and if I'm wrong, no harm done, it means I was wrong and if I was right, means I was thinking correctly, simple really.

Edited August 14, 2018 by 4MyEgo

[animalmagic]

11 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Check out the lorry stopped just before the edge.

He probably left a few skid marks!

[stevenl]

58 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

It's my opinion, take on it, why not speculate, it's called working the brain, and if I'm wrong, no harm done, it means I was wrong and if I was right, means I was thinking correctly, simple really.

Why not? Because it is stupid to speculate about something you know nothing about.

[Wilsonandson]

Built in the 1960's.

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

Why not? Because it is stupid to speculate about something you know nothing about.

and that is your opinion, too much air...

[peperobi]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Italian television showed images of the collapsed bridge, which was built on the A10 toll motorway in the 1960s. Restructuring work on the bridge was carried out in 2016.

Like always in my country, someone took the money and do bad work...is usual in Italy corruption #1 in the world!

[Grusa]

13 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

This tragedy, loss of life etc, will create absolute chaos for ages. A major piece of infrastructure gone................

Wrong bridge, I think. 

[ratcatcher]

2 minutes ago, Grusa said:

Wrong bridge, I think. 

Thank you for that. It is indeed my error and not the collapsed structure.

[Grusa]

1 minute ago, ratcatcher said:

Thank you for that. It is indeed my error and not the collapsed structure.

No problem. Do you have the right one?

[Opl]

More Bridges Will Collapse

" There’s an old chestnut about infrastructure that goes, Infrastructure is everything you don’t notice—until it fails. It’s a definition that works for any kind of infrastructure, too: big or small, visible or invisible, bridges and garage doors, electric grids and Wi-Fi routers. Infrastructure is everything you take for granted. And you only notice that you take it for granted when it breaks."

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/the-age-of-precarious-infrastructure/567493/

 

[ratcatcher]

40 minutes ago, Grusa said:

No problem. Do you have the right one?

I think this is the one.

[Opl]

the bridge under repair - october 2017 

https://www.google.fr/maps/@44.4252487,8.8904401,3a,60y,343.21h,77.37t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1siD5-P6IiE8kTR0owwfgq-g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[lannarebirth]

4 hours ago, stevenl said:

Why not? Because it is stupid to speculate about something you know nothing about.

I KNOW this isn't your first day on a social media platform.

[thaiguzzi]

I've  ridden through Genoa a few times during the late 90's thru to 2003. On Euro run holidays with my mates on bikes inc the (Italian) Moto Guzzi in my avatar amongst others.

Possibly on this bridge too.

Crazy city!

We'd be riding at 60-70-80 mph (100-130 kph for you metric folk) on these motorway sections way high up in the city, past housewives hanging their laundry up on their balconies on the 10th floor or whatever, literally 6-7 metres away.

Crazy city.

[Skeptic7]

6 hours ago, animalmagic said:

He probably left a few skid marks!

In more ways than one! 

[Foexie]

16 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

It's my opinion, take on it, why not speculate, it's called working the brain, and if I'm wrong, no harm done, it means I was wrong and if I was right, means I was thinking correctly, simple really.

 

15 hours ago, stevenl said:

Why not? Because it is stupid to speculate about something you know nothing about.

 

 

WWOOWWW these are the words what should be repeated on this website daily.

 

Specialy "thinking" and "stupid to speculate".

 

If this happened in Thailand there would already been 10 pages with Thai bashing, brown envelops, Cheap construction works, ignorance, stupidity, incompetence, ....... and many more.

 

Now the comments here are so nice, friendly, soft, .. or no comments at all from some peoples.

 

RIP to all those peoples and i'm already happy to know that there are relatively less victims as this could be alot worce if this was happened on a normal weekday outside  schoolholidays.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Foexie
writing error

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed.