Genoa motorway bridge collapses in Italy 'tragedy'
Image copyrightEPA
The shattered bridge spanned a stream into which much of the rubble fell
A major bridge has collapsed near the northern 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".
Adnkronos news agency reports the head of the local ambulance service as saying there are "dozens of dead".
Photographs from the scene show huge sections of rubble on the ground underneath the middle of the bridge.
The collapsed section had mostly fallen on rail tracks below, officials told the AFP news agency, adding that cars and trucks had also fallen.
One image shows a truck perched at the end of the surviving bridge section immediately before the drop.
The bridge, built in the 1960s, is known as the Morandi bridge. The missing section was dozens of metres in length, and ran across the span of the Polcevera stream.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica described that part of the city as "densely inhabited".
The structure collapsed shortly before noon local time (10:00 GMT) during heavy rain. Video shared by the police of the incident suggests a major vertical support, as well as the road itself, was part of the collapse.
Source: bbc world
