Search for victims after part of Italian highway collapses

MILAN -- A raised highway partially collapsed in the northern Italian port city of Genoa on Tuesday, leaving an unknown number of people dead and injured. There was no immediate confirmation of casualty numbers, but the Italian news agency ANSA quoted emergency officials as saying "tens" of people were killed.

Rescuers were digging through the rubble to try and find people in cars that fell through the collapsed section. Italy's government Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said the collapse appeared to be "an immense tragedy," but he did not immediately confirm casualties.

ANSA reported that a structural weakness was suspected of causing the collapse. The portion of highway that collapsed was about 200 yards long. Images tweeted by Italian police showed the highway through the city with a large section missing and a truck stopped just in front of what was left as a precipice. ANSA reported that at least two people were pulled from the rubble alive. Their conditions were not known.

A photo provided by the Italian Red Cross shows a collapsed section of the raised A10 highway in Genoa, Italy, Aug. 14, 2018.
Italian Red Cross

French news agency AFP said it was a portion of the five-decade old Morandi highway bridge that collapsed. CBS News' Anna Matranga reports there was maintenance work being performed on the bridge. Italian fire services said the bridge, in an industrial area in west Genoa, fell down at 5 a.m. Eastern time.

A fire service spokesperson told AFP the bridge collapsed primarily onto rail tracks about 100 yards below and that "cars and trucks" had fallen with the rubble.

Witnesses told Sky Italia that they believed at least 10 vehicles were trapped under the rubble. Another video tweeted by the Italian state police showed part of the actual collapse in what appeared to be cell phone video. A man's voice can heard screaming in Italian, "oh God! Oh God!" over the clip.

CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports that Italian officials have said the region was hit by a sudden, violent storm just before the collapse. Images from the scene show heavy rain falling.

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