Our live coverage has ended. Go here or scroll through the posts below to read more about the bridge collapse.
Genoa has declared two days of mourning following the collapse of the Morandi bridge on Tuesday.
Flags will fly at half-staff on municipal buildings on Aug. 15 and 16.
Residents are also invited to express their condolences and support for the victims and their families, the Genoa’s mayor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.
Search and rescue operations at the site of the Morandi bridge collapse in Genoa will continue for days, according to an engineer with Italy’s fire department.
“Our work will continue for days,” Emanuele Gissi told Italian state broadcaster RAI News 24 during a televised interview.
Gissi also said several people are still missing, based on the number of vehicles on the bridge when it collapsed. He wouldn’t say how many people they were looking for.
A spokesperson for Italy’s civil protection agency told CNN on Tuesday that there were between 25 and 30 cars on the bridge when it collapsed, as well as three to four trucks.
Search and rescue operations will continue through the night, the spokesperson said.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says 22 people have been confirmed dead in the Genoa bridge collapse. He added that 16 people were injured, nine of them in serious condition.
This is a lower death toll than previously reported: Earlier on Tuesday, the office of the governor of the northwestern Liguria region — where Genoa is located — had said on its official twitter account that the death toll had climbed to 35.
Conte called the collapse of a bridge near Genoa “an incredible tragedy” as he spoke to journalists at the site of the collapse.
When asked what could have caused the collapse, Conte said authorities were looking at possible “structural failure.”
It is currently unclear why a section of the Morandi Bridge collapsed. But here’s what do we know about structure:
British Prime Minister Theresa May called the bridge collapse near Genoa a “tragic event” and offered her thoughts to the people of Italy.
Here’s the tweet from the 10 Downing Street account:
Genoa Mayor Marco Bucci tells CNN that that the bridge collapse in the city was “not absolutely unexpected.”
When asked if he knew what had caused the bridge to collapse — or if he knew if the bridge was undergoing repair work — Mayor Bucci said he wasn’t sure.
“It’s not my job to [know] that,” he said. “My job is to think about the future and work for the future of the city”.
He added: “My role as the mayor is to make sure we have the correct infrastructure for the city and make sure that from the government we get the right amount of money in order to be able to set up the new infrastructure as soon as possible.”
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has arrived at the scene of the bridge collapse in Genoa.
Conte is expected to stay in Genoa at least until tomorrow to show the Italian government’s support for the victims and their families, according to a statement from his office.
Luca Cari, spokesman for the fire service, told Italian news agency Rai that rescuers were searching for people underneath the rubble as if it were an earthquake.
Canine search-and-rescue units were deployed by the Italian Red Cross to look for victims beneath the debris, while other Red Cross teams were sent out in police boats to search for people potentially stranded in the estuary of the Polcevera River.
Giorgio Larosa posted a video on Instagram showing rescuers working in heavy rain to free people from crushed vehicles in a grassy area below the viaduct.
The bridge that collapsed near Genoa, Italy, was undergoing maintenance, the company in charge of Italian highways, Autostrade, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Morandi Bridge “dates back to the 1960s” and “maintenance works were underway to consolidate it,” Autostrade said
The statement goes on to say that “a bridge-crane was installed to allow maintenance works to be carried out” adding that, “the work and status of the viaduct were subject to constant observation and supervision” by their Genoa division.
The company added: “The causes for the collapse will be the subject of an in-depth analysis as soon as it is possible to safely access the site.”
This is what the Morandi Bridge looked like both before and after it collapsed
Antonio Brencich, an engineer and associate professor of reinforced concrete constructions at the University of Genoa, expressed concern about the bridge’s safety back in 2016.
In an interview released with La Repubblica after the Morandi Bridge collapsed, he said the bridge was “constantly undergoing maintenance.”
He continued: “There are steel cables that are weighed and run inside sheaths, and then there is a system to fill the sheaths to prevent corrosion that can damage the cables. But the system didn’t work as it was thought. The weighing of the cables didn’t work as thought. Protection from corrosion wasn’t what it was hoped for. This caused the structure to deteriorate at great speed. Think of the fact that the east tower was reinforced only 20 years after the opening of the bridge, as evidence of premature decay. 20 years is nothing, a blink of an eye in the life of a bridge.”
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is on his way to Genoa following the bridge collapse today, his office said in a statement on Tuesday.
Conte is expected to arrive in Genoa this evening and will stay there at least until tomorrow to show the Italian government’s support for the victims and their families, the statement added.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development and Jobs Luigi Di Maio will also be arriving in Genoa later on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Edoardo Rixi told reporters at a press conference earlier.
The death toll for the bridge collapse in Italy has risen to 35, according to the office of the Governor of the northwestern Liguria region — where Genoa is located.
The office announced it on its official twitter account, quoting unnamed sources from the Fire Department.
Giovanni Toti, the Governor of Liguria, has been heavily involved in the rescue efforts and had already said at a press conference on Tuesday that he expected the death toll to rise.
Davide Di Giorgio was taking video of today’s rain when he captured the moment the bridge collapsed.
He told CNN that he was filming the weather from the window of his office when the bridge gave way.
He added: “My colleagues and I were shaking … I saw it from the camera of my smartphone so it was unreal.”
Watch the footage here:
The death toll for the collapse of the Morandi Bridge has now risen to 25, the office of the Governor of the northwestern Liguria region said on its official twitter account.
See the original tweet below.
The death toll for the bridge collapse in Italy has risen to 22, Edoardo Rixi, the Italian deputy minister of infrastructure told reporters at a press conference.
Rixi was speaking at a joint press conference with Giovanni Toti, the governor of the northwestern Liguria region, who added that he expects the death toll to continue to rise.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said heavy rainfall, wind and lightning all may have played a role in this morning’s bridge collapse.
Watch more:
Rescue teams are on the scene of the bridge collapse near Genoa, Italy.
So far, 240 fire brigade units and rescue teams are working at the bridge, and more are expected to arrive from nearby regions.
Video showed one rescuer suspended mid-air over the bridge collapse site:
Angelo Borrelli, the head of the Italian Civil Protection Agency, said at a news conference that 13 people have been injured in the bridge collapse.
Of the injured victims, five have severe injuries. But that number is expected to be higher as rescue teams remove the rubble, Borrelli said.
Right now, 240 fire brigade units and rescue teams are on the scene, and more are expected to arrive from nearby regions.
The bridge, near Genoa, collapsed around noon local time. Here’s video from the moment it gave way:
