File photo shows the bridge’s deck collapses in a cloud of smoke and water after explosive charges blew up the eastern pylons of Genoa’s Morandi motorway bridge in June this year. — AFP photo
GENOA, Italy: Italy’s warring political leaders suspended hostilities on Wednesday, gathering in the port city of Genoa to mark the first anniversary of a bridge collapse that killed 43 people.
Despite a political crisis in Rome, Italy’s head of state, President Sergio Mattarella, and party leaders met for a Catholic mass at the site of the disaster, held in a derelict warehouse near rubble left over from the now-demolished bridge.
On August 14 last year, a large section of the 1.2km-long (1,100-yard) motorway viaduct, built in the 1960s with reinforced concrete, collapsed in heavy rain, sending cars and trucks plummeting about 50 metres to the ground.
At the start of the ceremony, names of the dead were read aloud, moving some to tears as sombre-faced politicians, including Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and populist Interior Minister Matteo Salvini stood in the front row.
The cause of the collapse is still under investigation, but the ruling 5-Star Movement blamed Italy’s biggest toll-road operator, infrastructure group Atlantia, for neglecting maintenance on the bridge, a charge the group denies.
Atlantia is controlled by the Benetton family, famous for its clothing retail chain. — Reuters