Furious ministers from Italy’s coalition government have rounded on the company that manages the country’s motorways, as authorities struggled to quell growing anger over the bridge collapse in Genoa on Tuesday that killed 39 people.

A vast span of the Morandi bridge caved in during a heavy rainstorm in the northern port city, sending about 35 cars and several trucks plunging 45 metres (150ft) on to railway tracks below. A 12-month state of emergency has been declared in the region.

The tragedy has focused anger on the structural problems that have dogged the decades-old Morandi bridge, and on Autostrade per l’Italia, the company in charge of operating and maintaining swathes of the country’s motorways.

The row escalated on Wednesday afternoon to include Benetton, the controlling shareholder in Atlantia, the infrastructure group that owns Autostrade per l’Italia.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Abandoned vehicles seen on the Morandi motorway bridge. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

In a scathing attack, Danilo Toninelli, the transport minister from the Five Star Movement (M5S) party, called for top managers at Autostrade to resign and launched an attempt to revoke the company’s contract and impose a €150m (£134m) fine.

Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister and leader of M5S, wrote on Facebook that Autostrade was “definitely to blame”, as prosecutors launched a criminal inquiry that will focus on the bridge’s maintenance and design. T prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, also pointed the finger at Autostrade, calling the tragedy “unacceptable in a modern society” and vowing to work so similar events would not happen again.

Entire family dies in bridge collapse in Genoa Read more

Meanwhile, extraordinary accounts emerged of the moment the bridge came down. Davide Capello, a former professional footballer, told of how the road beneath his car collapsed as he was crossing the bridge, sending him into a terrifying freefall.

“I heard an amazing noise. I saw the road collapsing and I went down with it,” said Capello, 33, from his hospital bed. Few were as lucky as Capello, who walked away with barely a scratch though his car was a mangled wreck. “I was lucky enough to land, I don’t even know how because if you saw my car … I didn’t pass out. I felt as though a miracle happened.”

Play Video 1:29 'It was like being in a film': ex-footballer on surviving Genoa bridge collapse – audio

Afifi Idriss, 39, a Moroccan lorry driver, told Italian media how a green lorry stopped just short of the abyss after another vehicle passed it at the last second, forcing it to brake slightly.

The driver “went back three metres then left the motor running and ran,” Idriss said. “I was behind him, two cars back. I backed up a little, leaving space for other cars. When I saw the thing was so big, that everything had fallen, I took the keys and got out of there.”

Within hours of the disaster, the anti-establishment government that took office in June said the collapse showed Italy needed to spend more on its dilapidated infrastructure, ignoring EU budget constraints if necessary.

Matteo Salvini, the far-right interior minister, said EU spending rules could have been responsible. “If external constraints prevent us from spending to have safe roads and schools, then it really calls into question whether it makes sense to follow these rules,” he said.

Di Maio said that “instead of investing money for maintenance, they [Benetton] divide the profits and that is why the bridge falls.”

Play Video 1:26 Genoa bridge collapse: rescuers search for survivors – video report

In 2013, a statement published on the party’s website declared the bridge had the strength to “last another 100 years”. The post was removed from the site on Wednesday. Di Maio said it was published by spokesperson since expelled from the party and not in line with official policies.

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Autostrade said in a statement that it had invested more than €1bn a year between 2012 and 2017 in maintaining and upgrading its network and ensuring its motorways were safe. The company said the improvements were reflected in a reduction in road accident and mortality rates. A fresh round of maintenance work was due to start in October.

The bridge collapse has reignited a longstanding debate about the state of Italian infrastructure. Corriere Della Sera reported that four other bridges had collapsed in the past five years.

The Morandi bridge has been riddled with structural problems since its construction in 1967, which has led to expensive maintenance and repeated criticism from engineering experts. On Tuesday the specialist engineering website Ingegneri.info published a piece that highlighted longstanding concerns over the bridge, calling it “a tragedy waiting to happen”.

The architect Renzo Piano told La Repubblica that “bridges do not collapse by accident”. He said: “I don’t know what happened yet; I don’t have enough information. What I can say is that I don’t believe that … nature is uncontrollable, that lightning strikes and rain [cannot be dealt with].”

Play Video 1:17 Genoa motorway bridge collapse caught on camera – video report

Antonio Brencich, an engineering professor at the University of Genoa, said it would have been impossible to foresee Tuesday’s disaster because the design of the bridge did not allow for accurate checks on the status of the pylons.

Two years ago Brencich suggested in a study that the best approach with bridges such as the Morandi would be to demolish them and start again. “The materials that had been used to build that bridge were destined to deteriorate quickly,” he said on Wednesday.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report