
More victims of the Genoa bridge collapse were laid to rest today as relatives attended the state funeral amid growing anger in Italy over the disaster which claimed so many lives.

Families of 18 of the 42 victims gathered for the funeral service in the city centre where coffins were lined up before the alter draped in white roses and tended to by inconsolable loved ones.

But tears have turned to anger as mourners demand to know how the tragedy was allowed to happen after the emergence of a report by motorway operator Autostrade warning about the condition of the bridge just last year.

Loud boos and jeers were heard as Italy's former leader Maurizio Martina arrived for the service. His Democratic Party was in charge until last year's election.

In contrast, deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini was cheered along with Italian president Sergio Mattarella who arrived earlier along with raft of other dignitaries, prominent figures and members of the Genoa football team.

Relatives of a number of victims have refused to take part announcing that they were boycotting the event.

The collapse of a section of the Morandi motorway bridge and the deaths of those crossing in vehicles have led to a fevered debate in Italy about the nation's infrastructure.

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Tragedy: More victims of the Genoa bridge collapse were laid to rest today as relatives attended the state funeral amid growing anger in Italy over the disaster which claimed so many lives

Day of mourning: Families of 18 of the 42 victims gathered for the funeral service in the city centre where coffins were lined up before the alter, draped in white roses

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco leads the service: Italian president Sergio Mattarella has been pictured arriving at the service along with the interior minister Matteo Salvini and a raft of other dignitaries and prominent national figures

Bereft relatives were comforted by a sombre Mattarella as Italy begins a day of national mourning

Football players and coaches from Genoa and Sampdoria attend State funerals of the victims

The collapse of a section of the Morandi motorway bridge and the deaths of those crossing in vehicles have led to a fevered debate in Italy about the nation's infrastructure

The confirmed death toll from the collapse of a 660-foot stretch of the bridge on Tuesday that sent vehicles plummeting 165 feet to the ground, remain at 42, but officials have said there still may be up to 20 people missing.

The funerals are being held as the battle of who to blame for the incident continues after Italian media revealed that an engineering study commissioned by Italian highway operator Autostrade last year warned about the state of the concrete-encased cable stays that held up the bridge.

The newspaper reports said the university study had found that the stays of the section of the bridge that later collapsed reacted to vibration 'in a way that does not entirely conform with expectations and requires further investigation.'

The study said the anomaly in the stays' reaction may have been linked to corrosion of metal in some cables.

Some families have boycotted the event and are holding their own private services as a sign of protest against what they say was negligence that caused the bridge to collapse.

The government has declared Saturday a national day of mourning. The state funeral will be televised live and state broadcaster RAI said will not air any advertising as a sign of respect for the victims.

A woman is comforted as she mourns a victim of the collapsed highway bridge at the Fiera di Genova exhibition center, where some of the victims are laid in state

Archbishop of Genoa, Angelo Bagnasco (right), comforts people during the rosary in memory of the victims of Morandi highway bridge collapse

A woman is overcome by emotion as she sits beside a coffin. The funerals are being held as the battle of who to blame for the incident continues

Mourning: Friends and family members gathered to mourn at the coffins a Chilean-born couple, which have been draped in the flag of their home country

Heartbreaking: The coffins of Roberto Robbiano and his eight-year-old son Samuel, who died alongside with his wife and Samuel's mother Ersilia Piccinino when their car fell 150ft, are seen ahead of their funeral

The coffins of amateur football player Andrea Cerulli, the father of a young son who was killed on his way to work, left, and and 22-year-old Albanian national Marius Djerri, right, were put on display

Some families have said they will boycott tomorrow's state funeral and hold their own private services, as a sign of protest against what they say was negligence that caused the bridge to collapse

Some of the victims are laid in state at the Fiera di Genova exhibition center on Friday ahead of the state funeral

The Italian government has declared Saturday a national day of mourning in the wake of Tuesday's tragedy

Meanwhile, rescue workers continue to search through tons of concrete and steel from the collapsed highway bridge for a fourth day on Friday.

The chance of finding survivors at this stage is slim and the unstable mountains of debris is making the search operation dangerous, but rescue workers said they had not given up hope.

'We are trying to find pockets in the rubble where people could be - alive or not,' fire official Emanuele Gissi told AFP.

Genoa's chief prosecutor has said that between ten and 20 people could still be missing under the huge piles of concrete.

Cranes and bulldozers are working to help clear the site as rescuers try to cut up and remove the biggest slabs of concrete.

'We will then send in dogs and rescue workers to see if we can find any signs of life,' Gissi added.

Bizarre design: One of the pillars of the highway bridge which collapsed on Tuesday, killing at least 42 people, appears to cut through a part of the roof of the building under it

Cutting it close: The bridge that collapsed in was considered a feat of engineering innovation when it was built, but its design is now being investigated as a possible contributor to its collapse

The bridge was considered a feat of engineering innovation when it was built five decades ago, but it came to require constant maintenance and its design is now being investigated as a possible contributor to its collapse.

Italian prosecutors are now focusing their investigation into possible design flaws or inadequate maintenance of the bridge that opened in 1967.

Photos of the homes located underneath the surviving sections of the collapsed Morandi bridge show one of its pillars cutting through part of a roof on a block of flats underneath.

The houses pre-dates the bridge and is appears to have been constructed with little consideration of the apartment blocks which it dwarfs.

The blocks of flats underneath the Morandi bridge are now set to be destroyed, forcing 630 people out of their homes.

The apartment buildings have been evacuated in the wake of the disaster due to the risk of further collapse, and on Thursday evening the first residents of some buildings in the affected area were allowed to return home.

While the possibly flawed design is being investigated, the Italian government has pinned the blame on Autostrade per L'Italia, the private company contracted to maintain and operate the motorway bridge.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini demanded that the company offer up to 500 million euros (£448million) to help families and local government deal with the aftermath of the disaster.

Residents are helped by firefighters as they get their belongings from their evacuated homes in Genoa

The first residents of some buildings in the affected area were allowed to return home yesterday

Lucky: Hundreds live in the flats which came before the bridge, and are now likely to be demolished after the collapse

A rescue worker looks up at apartment buildings immediately under the collapsed Morandi motorway bridge in Genoa

A broken section of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa are pictured immediately above blocks of apartment buildings

Evacuated: Hundreds of residents living in the shadow of what remains of the Morandi bridge have had to be evacuated and may now lose their homes

'If we've put up five million euros, they should offer 500 million,' he told reporters. 'There needs to be an immediate, concrete and tangible signal for these families: they should put their hands on their hearts and in their wallets.'

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli said yesterday that he has given Autostrade 15 days to prove that it has fulfilled its obligations and is not to blame for the collapse.

He said reconstruction of the key artery should begin 'as quickly as possible', and wants Autostrade to carry it out at its own expense. The highway bridge was a link between two major highways, one going to France and the other to Milan.

Autostrade, which estimates it will take five months to rebuild the bridge, denies scrimping on motorway maintenance, saying it has invested over one billion euros a year in 'safety, maintenance and strengthening of the network' since 2012.

Atlantia, the holding company that owns Autostrade, has slammed the threats to revoke its concessions and warned that the government would have to refund the value of the contract, which runs until at least 2038.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli said in a Facebook post that lodgings will be found for the residents, but that ultimately their apartments might have to be destroyed

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

Waiting game: A woman holding a baby waits by the police cordons in the hopes that she may be allowed back into her home after she and some 630 others were evacuated after the Morandi bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy

Rescuers work among the rubble and wreckage of the Morandi motorway bridge in Genoa early Friday morning, three days after the section collapsed

Still hope: The chance of finding survivors at this stage was slim and the unstable mountains of debris made the search operation dangerous, but rescue workers said they had not given up hope

Devastation: At least 42 people have died after a 260ft section of the Genoa highway bridge suddenly collapsed during a storm on Tuesday

Broken: A satellite image shows the collapsed section of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, northern Italy

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

The government has already filed the plans for a new replacement bridge, which they want Autostrade to pay for.

It is set to cost 100 million euros, be two lanes wider than the old bridge, and could be finished by 2019, La Stampa reports.

The parts of the bridge still standing, as well as the flats, will have to be destroyed to make way for the new overpass, which could either be built in the same spot or further along the rail tracks.

All that remains, the newspaper said quoting Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio, is to ensure the work can begin - meaning a promise from Autostrade that they will foot the bill for the new bridge.

The structure is a cable stayed bridge designed by late Italian engineer Riccardo Morandi, using reinforced and prestressed concrete.

Among its unusual features were its concrete-encased stay cables, which Morandi used in several of his bridge designs instead of the more common steel cables. There are two similar bridges in the world, in Libya and Venezuela.

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

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.

Experts have said a number of factors could have contributed to the collapse, including wear and tear from weather and traffic that surpassed what the bridge was originally built to sustain.

Antonio Brencich, a professor of construction at the University of Genoa, said the design lent itself to swift corrosion and the bridge was in constant need of maintenance.

Most recently, a 20 million-euro (£17.9million) project to upgrade the bridge's safety had been approved before its collapse, with public bids to be submitted by September.

According to the business daily Il Sole 24 Ore, the improvement work involved two weight-bearing columns that support the bridge - including one that collapsed Tuesday.

But Brencich, who warned two years ago that the design of the bridge was a failure, said the structure should have been destroyed rather than be subjected to more repairs.