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A massive highway bridge collapsed over the Italian city of Genoa during a rainstorm Tuesday, causing concrete and cars to fall several stories onto buildings and killing at least 11 people, according to a state run news agency.
About 650 feet of the Morandi Bridge fell onto an industrial section of the port city shortly before noon, according to the Associated Press. Local footage showed people screaming and a truck stopped just a few feet from the edge of the chasm.
Multiple vehicles and “dozens of dead” were reported to be in the rubble, according to Reuters. “A 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,’ ” the news agency reported.
The bridge carried a busy toll road over malls, factories, homes, a rail line and the Polcevera River, the Italian news service ANSA wrote. Rescue workers told the outlet that “several crushed vehicles are under the rubble with dead people inside.”
The bridge was built in the 1960s and had restructuring work performed on it two years ago, according to Reuters. It’s still unclear how a torrential rainstorm caused it to fall after it had stood for more than half a century.
Writing on Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the collapse, Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said he feared that many more deaths would be confirmed.
[Washington Post]