
A photograph taken of the bridge in Genoa, Italy, which collapsed yesterday, killing at least 39 people shows the dilapidated state of the overpass just weeks before the tragedy.

The photo, allegedly taken not long before yesterday's accident, appears to show cables hanging from the sides of the Morandi bridge.

Both families of victims and government ministers expressed outrage over the disaster, which is being blamed on a lack of maintenance by Autostrade Per Italia, the private company that operates many of Italy's toll highways.

Eerie: The bridge pictured weeks before its collapse shows it looking dilapidated with cables hanging from the sides

About 1,000 rescue workers kept up the search for victims on Wednesday, picking through tons of broken concrete slabs, smashed vehicles and twisted steel.

At least two bodies more were pulled out the day after the collapse and most of the at least 39 dead have been identified, including at least two entire families wiped out as they drove across.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared a state of emergency for the Genoa province, one of Italy's biggest ports, as was requested by local authorities.

'A cabinet meeting took place in which we have decreed a 12-month state of emergency and made available a first allocation worth €5 million for the national emergencies fund,' he said.

Mr Conte also said there was 'not doubt' Autostrade was responsible for ensuring the safety of the bridge as part of its contract to run the highway and collect tolls.

He confirmed the government's intention to revoke the contract from private sector firm Autostrade per l'Italia, which was in charge of operating and maintaining the bridge and the A10 motorway it was part of.

'This is a tragedy that is unacceptable in a modern society, and this government will do everything in its power to prevent anything of this kind from reoccurring,' he said.

'We have already announced that we will begin the process of revoking the Autostrade concession.'

His deputy Luigi Di Maio accused the Benetton group, which through its £6million holding company Atlantia controls Autostrade Per Italia, of pocketing profits instead of investing money for maintenance.

'Instead of investing money for maintenance, they divide the profits. And that is why the bridge falls,' he said

Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli called for the top management of Autostrade, which controls 1,876 miles of Italian highways, to quit, but they have so far refused.

Atlantia said in a statement on its website on Wednesday that it spent £10.17bn to improve 574 miles of Italian motorways, and was waiting for approval from authorities to build a bypass around Genoa at the time of the collapse.

The company said it did regular, sophisticated checks on the structure before the disaster, relying on 'companies and institutions which are world leaders in testing and inspections' and that these had provided reassuring results.

'These outcomes have formed the basis for maintenance work approved by the Transport Ministry in accordance with the law and the terms of the concession agreement,' it said.

A source close to the matter said Autostrade per l'Italia would hold an extraordinary board meeting next week following the disaster.

Men in charge: Paolo Berti, the Operations and Maintenance manager of Atlantia, Stefano Marigliani, the director of the Genoa stretch of carriage way and Giancarlo Guenzi, Altantia's chief financial officer are being accused of not ensuring maintenance of the bridge was up to date while pocketing huge salaries

Devastation: At least 39 people have died after a 260ft section of the Genoan highway bridge suddenly collapsed during a storm on Tuesday

Rescuers work among the rubble of the collapsed Morandi highway bridge in Genoa, northern Italy

Excavators dig into the rubble at the site of the highway-bridge-collapse disaster as the Italian government blame the incident on a lack of maintenance by Autostrade Per Italia, the private company that operates many of Italy's toll highways

One of the individuals singled out as responsible for the disaster is a sharply-dressed executive with a love of fast cars and tropical beaches.

Paolo Berti, 47, from Milan, is the Operations and Maintenance manager of Atlantia, and therefore one of the executives directly responsible for maintaining the Morandi Bridge – and the scores of other motorway structures – that span Italy's mountainous landscape.

The others are Stefano Marigliani, the director of the Genoa stretch of carriage way and Giancarlo Guenzi, Altantia's chief financial officer with responsibility of approving – or refusing –maintenance budgets.

Several people are now asking what role of the executives – who each earn in excess of £100,00 per year – played in the up-keep of the ruined structure.

Genoa Prosecutor Francesco Cozzi told reporters an investigation into the collapse was focused on human causes, specifically the possibility of inadequate maintenance or a design flaw in the bridge's construction.

'I don't know if there is responsibility. For sure it was not an accident,' he said.

Asked if authorities got any warning that the bridge - a key link between two major highways, one headed toward France and the other to Milan - could be dangerous, Mr Cozzi indicated that no serious safety concerns reached his office before the collapse.

Otherwise 'none of us would have driven over that highway 20 times a month, as we do,' he said.

Questions are now being raised as to whether or not the Italian Mafia may have been involved during the bridge's construction more than 50 years ago.

'Mafia-related companies are known to have infiltrated the cement and reconstruction industries over the decades and prosecutors have accused them of doing shoddy work that cannot withstand high stress,' Canada's Globe and Mail wrote.

Similar allegations were made by Dave Parker, Technical Editor Emeritus of New Civil Engineer, who told Radio 4's Today that 'according to urban myths, the mafia had a very big finger in the pie of the concrete industry back then, charging full price and putting less cement in.'

Yesterday, experts said the bridge was almost certainly brought down by a fatal flaw in its construction, or wear and tear which inspectors overseeing maintenance had missed.

Waiting game: Locals forced to evacuate their homes under and near the collapsed bridge wait to hear if they may be able to return on Wednesday

A young family and other local residents wait by their homes amid fears further sections of the bridge could collapse

A huge 260ft section of the 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.

Angelo Borrelli, the head of the civil protection department, said some 1,000 rescuers have been working since after the collapse Tuesday to search for 'any possible missing' persons.

At least 39 people, including several children, have been confirmed dead and 15 people are known to have been injured.

A witness, only named as Ivan, 37, said he watched the pylons come down as if their were papier-mache, before he was evacuated from the nearby building where he works.

'It's been a lifetime that we've known there were problems. It is in continual maintenance. In the '90s they added some reinforcements on one part, but also underneath you can see rust.'

'I can't tell myself that this is real, I still feel like this is a movie,' said Francesco Bucchieri, 62, who watched the disaster unfold.

'There has been negligence, they underestimated the danger... we need to find the culprits, it is a scandal, the guilty must pay!'

Alberto Fanfani, 32, an anesthesiologist who was originally from Florence, was also killed in the crash along with his fiancee Marta Danisi, 29. The pair were due to be married next year

Chef Juan Carlos Pastenes, 64 (left) and his wife Nora Rivera (right), who are originally from Chile but had lived in Italy for three decades, also perished alongside fellow Chilean Juan Figueroa, 60, who had also spent decades living in Italy

Stella Boccia, 24, was also killed alongside her Dominican boyfriend Carlos, 23, who was a waiter. The pair were returning from a vacation when they died

Nathan Gusman, 20, and Melissa Artus, 22, both tourists from France, were on a road trip from Montpellier to Sardinia alongside friend Nemati Alizè Plaze, 20, when they died. The trio were following a route which took them across the bridge

Marius Djerri, 22 (left), a football player from Albania, was also killed in the collapse alongside colleague Edy Bokrina. The pair were traveling in a work van to complete a cleaning job when they died. Elisa Bozzo, 34 (right), was pronounced dead after friends had launched a desperate search for her online

Mirko Vicini (picutred), an environment company worker, was underneath the bridge alongside colleague Bruno Casagrande when the bridge came down, killing both of them

Locals living in the homes under and near the bridge have spoken to local media about how the three years of constant maintainance has caused 'infernal noise' which had made it impossible to sleep, but how they count themselves lucky to be alive.

'If the other side of the bridge had fallen, not the central part, all the residents on this street would be dead,' one man told Genova Republica.

Fears mounted that another part of the Morandi Bridge, which was carved in two by the collapse of its midsection during a violent storm Tuesday, could also come crashing down.

That prompted authorities on Wednesday to widen an evacuation zone around the bridge, forcing some 630 people out of apartments in nearby buildings.

Residents are being prevented from returning to their homes even to feed pets or pick up medication due to the risk of further collapse.

Mr Toninelli raised the possibility that the evacuees may never again live there, saying the need to rebuild a new bridge on the city's key artery could require the destruction of nearby residential buildings.

At the security perimeter encircling the endangered buildings, two police officers stand guard, refusing to bow to the pleas of the dozens of inhabitants who have been desperate to go home since dawn.

Grazia Pistoro, a frail 83-year-old wearing just a thin leopard print blouse, was pleading to be able to collect clothes from her apartment.

'I didn't sleep, I haven't eaten,' she said. 'There are also people who need to get medicines.'

Salvatore Lorefice, 58, a pensioner who lives a few hundred yards from the bridge, said cement had fallen off the structure as early as the 1980s when he worked at a warehouse directly under the bridge.

He recalled a visit by a team of Japanese technicians who 'came to find out how the structure had deteriorated in such a short time.'

Those killed in the disaster include a family of three which was wiped out after being crushed by debris, and at least three children.

The blame game: Who is responsible for the deadly Genoa bridge collapse? The exact cause of Tuesday's disaster in Genoa, the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, is not yet clear but Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli has sworn that 'those responsible will have to pay.' The finger has been pointed in several directions, namely Autostrade Per Italia, the private company that operates many of Italy's toll highways. Italy's deputy premier, Luigi Di Maio accused the Benetton group, which through its £6million holding company Atlantia controls Autostrade Per Italia, of pocketing profits instead of investing money for maintenance. No fairy story now: Italian Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio, center right, and Italian Transport and Infrastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli, center left with glasses, speak to the media in front of the collapsed Morandi highway bridge in Genoa, northern Italy Di Maio's Five Star Movement party, which is governing alongside the League party, vowed to fine highway agency Autostrade 150million euros (£133million) for breach of contract while calling for its bosses to be sacked. However, Di Maio's own party dismissed fears that the Morandi bridge in Genoa would collapse as a 'fairy story' while opposing repair work as a 'waste of money' as recently as 2013. A now-deleted statement on the party's website argues against a project to improve Genoa's highways - including the bridge - saying those who backed the plan showed 'an embarrassing lack of critical sense.' The plan is 'an obsolete idea with exorbitant costs that, in the end, would fall entirely on citizens' who would have to deal with a decade of building works and disruption, the statement says. Repair work was eventually carried out on the bridge in 2016 but plans to rebuild it were shelved amid fears it would be too disruptive to locals. Men in charge: Paolo Berti, the Operations and Maintenance manager of Atlantia, Stefano Marigliani, the director of the Genoa stretch of carriage way and Giancarlo Guenzi, Altantia’s chief financial officer are being accused of not ensuring maintenance of the bridge was up to date while pocketing huge salaries One of the people singled out at responsible for the disaster is one of Atlantia's well-paid and sharply-dressed executives with a reported love of fast cars and tropical beaches. Paolo Berti, 47, from Milan, is the Operations and Maintenance manager of Atlantia, and therefore directly responsible for maintaining the Morandi Bridge – and the scores of other motorway structures – that span Italy’s mountainous landscape. The others are Stefano Marigliani, the director of the Genoa stretch of carriage way and Giancarlo Guenzi, Atlantia’s chief financial officer with responsibility of approving – or refusing –maintenance budgets. Atlantia is a public company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. It’s largest single shareholder is Sintonia, an investment vehicle of the Benetton family – known for their international fashion brand. Billionaire Gilberto Benetton, 77, one of the founders of United Colors of Benetton Sisley, is a director of Atlantia. Several people are now asking what role of the executives – who each earn in excess of £100,00 per year – played in the up-keep of the ruined structure. Atlantia said on its website today that it has spent 11.4 billion euros (£10.17bn) to improve 923km (574 miles) of Italian motorways, and was waiting for approval from authorities to build a bypass around Genoa. Local politician have also been accused of failing the people of Genoa, by refusing to allocate funds to carry out vital maintenance work on the crumbling bridge. In December 2016, Genoan newspaper Il Secolo XIX claimed maintenance of bridges in the area had been lacking funds because authorities 'preferred to allocate more funds to new works'. The paper accused officials in the Liguria region of only making important restorations when issues with bridges had become obvious. In addition, some have sought to blame the local Mafia, citing urban legends of crime bosses selling bad concrete with not enough cement, and known incidents of the Mafia infiltrated the Italian construction industry. Advertisement

Roberto Robbiano, his wife Ersilia Piccinino, and their seven-year-old son Samuel all died when their car fell 150ft as the huge 260ft section of the 50-year-old Morandi bridge gave way about 11.30am on Tuesday.

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

The family from the town of Campomorone north of Genoa were just in the wrong place at the wrong time on the busy arterial road west of the city that was bustling with traffic.

Mr Robbiano, an electrician, married his wife in 2014 and frequently posted photos to his Facebook of his young son and the black-and-white family cat on adventures at home and on holiday.

Amateur football player Andrea Cerulli, the father of a young son, was killed on his way to work, according to friends who flooded social media with tributes after finding out about his death.

'Genoa Club Portuali Voltri rallying around Andrea's family, our associate, our friend, our colleague, victim of Ponte Morandi's tragedy,' his football club wrote on its Facebook page.

The death of Luigi Matti Altadonna, 35, who also died crossing the doomed bridge prompted a heartfelt statement to his uncle from the mayor of his hometown of Borghetto.

'The municipal administration joins the pain of Giovanni, a model citizen and an exemplary volunteer of the Civil Protection Section of Borghetto, for the loss of his dear nephew in the terrible tragedy of Genoa'. Mayor Borghettino Giancarlo Canepa said.

Mr Altadonna was driving his work van over the bridge when it collapsed under him. Rescuers scrambled to free him from the wreckage but he could not be saved.

Roberto Robbiano, his wife Ersilia Piccinino, and their eight-year-old son Samuel all died as they were driving across the bridge when it collapsed around 11.30am on Tuesday

Andrea Cerulli, 48 (left), an amateur football player with Genoa Club Portuali Voltri died in the collapse while on his way to work. Luigi Matti Altadonna, 35 (right), a father-of-four, was also killed while on his way to work in a van. His colleague, Gianluca Ardini, 29, who is also due to become a father, escaped with only a dislocated shoulder

The family from the town of Campomorone north of Genoa were just in the wrong place at the wrong time on the busy arterial road west of the city that was bustling with traffic

Ms Piccinino died beside her husband and young son as all three were in their car crossing the bridge as it gave way

Genoa bridge collapse: Questions asked after tragedy What happened? Around 11.30am on Tuesday, August 14, the Morandi bridge - named for the architect who built it - partially collapsed in the city of Genoa. At least 38, including multiple children, died in the tragedy with a dozen more in critical condition in hospital. Shock and disbelief turned to anger on Wednesday as people demanded to know how such a thing could happen and who was responsible. How many people were involved? At least 38 people have died, while another 17 were taken to hospital, 12 of whom are in critical condition, interior minister Matteo Salvini said. However, that number could rise further as Salvini said 'several' more remain missing, without giving a specific figure. Around 60,000 motorists pass over the bridge every day, which was busy with commuters, truck drivers and holidaymakers when it fell. Why did the bridge fall down? A heavy storm blanketed the city at the time of the collapse and witnesses reported seeing lightning strike the bridge just before it came down. However, structural engineers have since ruled out this possibility, saying a fault with the construction or materials is far more likely. Residents complained that the bridge was wobbly long before it fell down and said it was being constantly repaired. Regional officials had been planning to replace the bridge as far back as 2013, though work was never started for fears over cost and disruption. The bridge did eventually undergo repairs in 2016. Who is to blame? Perhaps the most outlandish theory points to the Mafia, which was known to have influence over the construction industry when the bridge was built more than 50 years ago. There are fears that the gangs may have used substandard concrete in construction in order to make greater profits. The government on Wednesday blamed highways agency Autostrade, which operates around half of Italy's toll highways, including the bridge. Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio accused Autostrade, which is owned through a shell company by the Benneton group, of failing to carry out proper maintenance work. He threatened to fine the company £133million for breach of contract and withdrawn government funding, while calling on bosses to step down. Others pointed the finger at Di Maio's Five Star party, which in 2013 had argued vociferously against carrying out extensive construction work on the bridge to make it safer. The party said fears that the bridge could fall down were a 'fairy story' and those backing the repairs showed 'an embarrassing lack of critical sense.' The plan is 'an obsolete idea with exorbitant costs that, in the end, would fall entirely on citizens', Five Star said. Advertisement

His relatives launched a desperate social media appeal to find him after he could not be reached, and he was later identified in hospital.

Two workers from waste management company Ammiu were crushed by falling debris as they worked on the ecological island of Campi below the bridge.

The company named one of them as Mirko Vicini, whose body was found in the evening despite hopes he may have not been at work that day and survived. The other was later identified as Bruno Casagrande, according to Corriere Della Sera.

'The damages are invaluable but nothing compared to the pain for the lives lost,' company director Tiziana Merlino said. The firm shut down work on the island indefinitely.

Finally, Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella confirmed that an unnamed boy was killed in the bridge collapse, but did not say if any of his family were also victims.

'Florence is gripped by the family of the Florentine boy who lost his life in the tragic collapse of the viaduct in Genoa and the loved ones of all the other victims,' he said.

Genoa declared two days of mourning for Wednesday and Thursday.

An aerial view of the collapsed bridge shows just how much of the busy highway collapsed and crashed to the ground - and how close several vehicles came to falling with it

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.

A survivor with a head would is winched out of the debris on a stretcher by a fire crew after being found among the rubble

As night fell on the city of Genoa, the massive pile of rubble was illuminated on the skyline in the nearby neighbourhood

'It's an old bridge that was difficult to inspect from the start and doesn't have the redundancies that modern bridges do, so it is likely that one failure could lead to its collapse.'

Dr Giaralis said the metal parts, particularly the cables, of a bridge like the Morandi are the weakest parts but this bridge didn't fail there - pointing to bigger underlying issues.

'Usually these fail due to corrosion and that a process that takes decades, and it is very unusual that something that can cause total collapse went unnoticed,' he said.

'I would say that most probably something went wrong with the foundation or supporting ground rather than with the pier, the deck, or the cables.'

Dr Giaralis said the bridge was fully loaded with cars and there was wind, which may have triggered the collapse but would not have been the underlying cause as both should not be an issue for a healthy bridge.

Photos from Google Maps showed the bridge with what appeared to be spot repairs in the months leading up to the collapse, as it had been under repair since 2016.

Dr Giaralis said they were most likely patches to replace spalling concrete and ensure that reinforcement was covered to avoid long term corrosion.

He said they likely were unrelated to the collapse, which was caused by much more fundamental structural errors.

Photos from Google Maps showed the bridge with what appeared to be spot repairs in the months leading up to the collapse, as it had been under repair since 2016.

Dr Giaralis said they were most likely patches to replace spalling concrete and ensure that reinforcement was covered to avoid long term corrosion

He said they likely were unrelated to the collapse, which was caused by much more fundamental structural errors

On Tuesday specialist engineering website 'Ingegneri.info' published a piece that highlighted how the bridge had always presented 'structural doubts', calling it 'a tragedy waiting to happen'.

Lending support to the website was Antonio Brencich, a professor of reinforced concrete construction at the University of Genoa, highlighting the constant maintenance the bridge needed.

'It was affected by extremely serious corrosion problems linked to the technology that was used (in construction). Morandi wanted to use a technology that he had patented that was no longer used afterwards and that showed itself to be a failure,' said Brencich to Radio Capitale,

Brencich has long been a critic of the bridge. In 2016 he spoke with 'Ingegneri.info' about construction going over budget and poor calculations over concrete viscosity that led to an uneven road surface which wasn't fully corrected until the 1980s.

He warned that the Morandi Bridge's maintenance costs 'are so exorbitant that it would be cheaper to build a new one'.

In December 2016, Genoan newspaper Il Secolo XIX claimed maintenance of bridges in the area had been lacking funds because authorities 'preferred to allocate more funds to new works'.

The paper accused officials in the Liguria region of only making important restorations when issues with bridges had become obvious.

Carnage: The Morandi bridge collapsed at 11.30am local time. It was built on the A10 toll motorway in the 1960s and was restructured in 2016

Rubble: Most of the collapsed parts of the bridge fell to railway tracks and the river below as firefighters rushed to the scene

Dramatic pictures from the scene show how cars were crushed in the rubble as the bridge came crashing down during the storm

Scenes of devastation as trucks and cars are smashed as they fell to the ground when the bridge collapsed, or were crushed by falling debris

Firefighters drag either a body or one of just a few survivors found inside mangled cars like this one, which was completely flattened by falling debri

The disaster shocked the world but many locals feared the bridge would collapse for years and held their breath every time they crossed the vital arterial road.

'The state of the bridge always concerned us. Nobody has ever crossed that bridge with a light heart,' Genoa resident Elizabeth told the BBC.

'Everybody has always done it praying that the bridge wouldn't fall down. Today that happened.'

The exact cause of the disaster, the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, is not yet clear but Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said it showed the dilapidated state of the country's infrastructure and a lack of maintenance, adding that 'those responsible will have to pay.'

'There has not been sufficient maintenance and checks, and safety work for many bridges and viaducts and bridges in Italy constructed, almost all, during the 1960s,' he said.

Mr Toninelli said the operator of the section of highway including the bridge claimed maintenance work was up to date.

However, he added a €20 million (£17.8 million) bidding process for significant safety work on the bridge was coming up.

Firefighters said two people had been pulled alive from the rubble from the Morandi Bridge after a section collapsed onto an industrial area below

Dramatic pictures show the scale of the collapse, with vast mounds of concrete and steel lying twisted in the valley. Rescuers say they are fearful that gas lines may have been damaged, elevating the threat of an explosion

The Morandi Bridge was inaugurated in 1967. It is 90 yards high, just over three-quarters of a mile long, with the longest section between supports measuring 200 yards

The 50-year-old bridge designed by celebrated Italian engineer The disaster happened on a highway that connects Italy to France and other vacation resorts and happened on the eve of a major Italian holiday on Wednesday, Ferragosto. Traffic would have been heavier than usual as many Italians travelled to beaches or mountains. The Morandi Bridge, the work of celebrated Italian civil engineer Riccardo Morandi who died in 1989, was inaugurated in 1967. It is a main thoroughfare connecting the A10 highway that goes toward France and the A7 highway that continues north toward Milan. Itt is 295 ft (90m) high and just over 0.6 miles (1km) long. Its longest section between supports measuring more than 650ft (200m). The point where the bridge fell was 328ft above the ground. Restructuring work was carried out in 2016. The highway operator said work to shore up the foundation of the bridge was being carried out at the time of the collapse, adding that the bridge was constantly monitored. Another Morandi bridge in Venezuela, built to a similar design to the one in Genoa, partially collapsed in 1964 after being hit by an oil tanker. Advertisement

The bridge operator said there was no way to predict that the structure would come down.

Autostrade's Genoa area director, Stefano Marigliani, said: 'The collapse was unexpected and unpredictable.'

'The bridge was constantly monitored and supervised well beyond what the law required. There was no reason to consider the bridge dangerous.'

His deputy Edoardo Rixi added: 'It's not acceptable that such an important bridge... was not built to avoid this kind of collapse.'

The CNR civil engineering society is calling for a 'Marshall Plan' to repair or replace tens of thousands of bridges in Italy that have surpassed their lifespans, having been built in the 1950s and 1960s with reinforced concrete.

The group said the bridges were built with the best-known technology of the time, but that their working lifespan is 50 years.

It added that in many cases, the cost to update and reinforce the bridges is more than it would cost to destroy and rebuild them.

The CNR called for a major program to replace most of the bridges with new ones that would have a lifespan of 100 years.

It cited previous collapses, including one in April 2017 in the northern province of Cuneo that crushed a carabinieri police car, though the officers and the driver they had pulled over in a traffic stop heard the creaking noise and got out of the way in time.

Another was an overpass in the northern city of Lecco that collapsed under exceptional weight, crushing a car and killing the driver.

Italy's anti-establishment government which took office in June has pledged to increase public investments and lobby the European Commission to have the extra spending excluded from EU deficit calculations.

'The tragic facts in Genoa remind us of the public investments that we so badly need,' said Claudio Borghi, economics spokesman of the right-wing League party, which governs with the 5-Star Movement.