The Genoa bridge collapse which has claimed the lives of at least 39 people may have been an accident waiting to happen after 'mafia' companies were involved in its construction, it has been claimed.

Italy has long been plagued with corruption and business infiltration by gangland bosses – particularly within the construction industry.

For decades, 'families' as mafia groups are often known, are believed to have blackmailed, conned and forced their way into big building contracts.

Engineers have now claimed the same thing may have happened when the Morandi Viaduct in Genoa was built between 1963 and 1967.

A huge 260ft section of the 50-year-old Morandi bridge gave way at about 11.30am on Tuesday causing vehicles to plummet 150ft with tonnes of twisted steel and concrete debris into a river below.

An investigation into negligent miscarriage and negligent homicide has been opened by Genoa Public Prosecutor's Office.

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Rescuers at work to recover an injured person after a highway bridge collapsed in Genoa, Italy

Firefighters inspect the site of the collapsed Morandi highway bridge in Genoa where at least 39 people have now died

At least 39 people have died, 12 are in critical condition and several more are missing following the bridge collapse at 11.30am on Tuesday

Investigations into the collapse, which happened during a storm, could now probe whether the initial build, or following maintenance, was carried out by corrupted firms, Canada's Globe and Mail reported.

Prosecutor Francesco Cozzi called the collapse "an immense and insane tragedy" as Italians call for justice.

This would not be the first time Mafia-run firms have been linked to disaster.

Franco Roberti, head of Italy's anti-Mafia directorate in 2016, said Italian authorities must ensure the Mafia plays no role in the reconstruction work of the towns destroyed by earthquakes which killed about 300 people because of their shoddy work.

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 as Italians call for answers

People living in the buildings in the area have been evacuated following the collapse of a section of the Morandi bridge

A truck stands on a part of the collapsed Morandi bridge as Italian investigators scramble to discover the cause of the bridge's break up

'There are risks; it is useless to hide it,' he told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

'The risk of infiltration is always high. Postearthquake reconstruction is a tasty morsel for criminal organizations and business interests.'

It is not just mafia men who are being blamed but Government officials and businesses.

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.

Since the accident it has been revealed concerns were raised over the 1.2 kilometres long structure which forms part of the A10 highway.

Photos from under the 90 metres high build showed parts 'crumbling' into disrepair.

Dave Parker, Technical Editor Emeritus of New Civil Engineer 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 when the bridge was erected, charging full price and putting less cement in.'

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

Known mafia men have made fortunes in the construction industry.

Matteo Messina Denaro, who runs Sicily's Cosa Nostra operation and is named the 'don of dons' was reported in 2012 to run a firm with a turnover of £116billion a year.

Part of that business was linked to construction firms.

In a police offensive against Denaro, building firms, cement companies, houses and shops worth around £455million were confiscated.

Established firms were not only corrupted to make money - but to launder it.

In recent years other European nations have been warned to keep an eye out for Italian mobs breaking into their own construction businesses.

Sicily's construction work market, one of the most important mafia businesses in the region, was severely hit by the economic crisis and profits dropped 90% in the decade from 2007.

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

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.

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

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

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 debris

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

Among the dead are an engaged couple Alberto Fanfani, 32, an anesthesiologist and his fiancee Marta Danisi, 29. The pair were due to be married next year.

A family was also killed. Roberto Robbiano, his wife Ersilia Piccinino, and their eight-year-old son Samuel all died as they were driving across the bridge

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

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

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

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

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

Some survivors have been pulled from the wreckage in the last 24 hours as rescuers pick through the mangle of cars and buildings at the bottom.

A pregnant woman has told how the father of her unborn child survived the Genoa bridge collapse by clinging to wires 65ft above the ground.

Giulia Organo said boyfriend Gianluca Ardini, 29, managed to cling on for hours despite suffering a dislocated shoulder because thinking of their baby 'gave him the strength to survive'.

Mr Ardini, who sells computer games, was making a delivery with colleague Luigi Matti Altadonna, 34, which the Morandi bridge gave way beneath them.

Mr Altadonna, himself a father-of-four, tragically fell 150ft to his death.

Gianluca Ardini, 29, (left), was driving across the Morandi bridge in Genoa when it collapsed on Tuesday. Girlfriend Giulia Organo (right), who is pregnant with their child, said he survived by clinging to metal wires 65ft off the ground

Some engineering experts have blamed the man whose vision the bridge was.

Antonio Brencich, a professor of reinforced concrete construction at the University of Genoa, pre-stressed reinforced concrete was used by Italian engineer Riccardo Morandi.

'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,' Professor Brencich told Radio Capitale.