GENOA, Italy: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared on Wednesday a 12-month state of emergency in Genoa following the collapse of a bridge that killed at least 39 people.
"A cabinet meeting took place in which we have decreed a 12-month state of emergency and made available a first allocation worth five million euros ($5.7 million) for the national emergencies fund," Conte said in a press conference in the north-western port city.
Genoa’s leading public prosecutor Francesco Cozzi on Wednesday said that the incident "definitely wasn’t bad luck". "We need to respond to just one question: Why did this happen?"
As cars and trucks tumbled off the bridge, Afifi Idriss, 39, a Moroccan lorry driver, just managed to come to a halt in time. "I saw the green lorry in front of me stop and then reverse so I stopped too, locked the truck and ran," he told AFP.
Some that plunged down with the bridge managed to escape unscathed, including a former goalkeeper for Italian Serie A club Cagliari. "I was driving along the bridge, and at a certain point I saw the road in front of me collapse, and I went down with the car," Davide Capello told TV news channel Sky TG24.
The incident is the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, a country prone to damage from seismic activity but where infrastructure generally is showing the effects of a faltering economy.
Pope Francis also sent his condolences to the victims, saying the tragedy has "caused desperation among the population", at a service for the feast of the Assumption.
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