Italy Bridge Collapse Leaves 37 Dead

At least 37 people were killed in Italy after the structure broke apart, falling nearly 150 feet. Officials expect the death toll to grow. We spoke to a local journalist who described the aftermath.Published On

A huge 260ft section of the 50-year-old Morandi bridge gave way about 11.30am on Tuesday as the arterial highway west of the city centre was packed with cars and trucks.


Cars fell 150ft along with tonnes of twisted steel and concrete debris into a river, railroad tracks and an industrial zone below, flattening vehicles and leaving rubble embedded in buildings.



Among the devastation, a handful of survivors were miraculously plucked from the 'apocalyptic' wreckage and rushed to hospital - some falling in their cars about 150ft to the ground below.

Photos showed firefighters winching survivors strapped into stretchers from among the boulder-sized pieces of concrete, before they were whisked away by emergency helicopters. 

Witnesses said the bridge was hit by lightning seconds before it collapsed and was seen 'wobbling', but engineers rubbished the idea that a bolt from above had anything to do with the disaster. 

'It couldn't have been lightning. I don't see how that would be possible as it's reinforced concrete and it's certainly never happened before,' Agathoklis Giaralis, deputy director of the University of London's Civil Engineering Structures Research Centre, told MailOnline.

He said the bridge, which was completed in 1967, must have been flawed in its construction, likely in the foundations, or suffered from extensive corrosion in its metallic parts. 

'For such a bridge to collapse it has to be something serious that went unnoticed in maintenance and inspections,' he said.