Who is responsible for Italy bridge collapse?

The Italian government laid the blame for the collapse of the bridge on the bridge maintenance company.

The number of deaths caused by the collapse of an automobile bridge in Italy's Genoa has increased to 39 people, the local police said.

The Italian government laid the blame for the collapse of the bridge on the bridge maintenance company, demanding the resignation of the leadership and threatening with heavy fines.

Built 50 years ago, the Morandi Bridge, through which the toll motorway A10, connecting Genoa with the south of France, collapsed around noon on Tuesday, damaging dozens of cars, as well as the warehouses and railroads under it.

While the search and rescue work continues on the site of the collapse, the sense of shock and bitterness that engulfed the nation grew into anger at the state of the 1.2-kilometer bridge, the construction of which was completed in 1967. Two years ago the bridge was reconstructed.

The Italian Minister of Transport said on Wednesday that he began the process of depriving Autostrade per l'Italia, the subsidiary structure of the Atlantia group, of the concession for the management of the motorway, to which the collapsed bridge belonged, and called on the leadership to resign. In addition, he demanded that the company pay the costs of rebuilding the bridge.

"Autostrade per l'Italia was unable to fulfill its obligations under the contract governing the management of this type of infrastructure," Danilo Toninelli said on RAI 1, adding that he would seek to impose heavy fines on the company.

The minister tweeted,

Desecreteremo integralmente tutti i contratti in essere con i concessionari #autostrade e li pubblicheremo sul sito del @mitgov. Inoltre con il Governo del cambiamento non ci saranno più convenzioni che avvantaggiano i gestori privati a discapito dello Stato. #maipiù #Genova

— Danilo Toninelli (@DaniloToninelli) August 15, 2018

Translation of tweet in English: We will fully discrete all the contracts in place with the dealers Autostrade and publish them on the site of the Ministry of Transport. Also with the changing government, there will be no more conventions that benefit private managers at the expense of the state.

According to him, the ministry is instructed to begin all the necessary procedures "to withdraw the concession and impose fines of up to 150 million euros."

First of all, the management of Autostrade per l'Italia should retire, Toninelli wrote on his Facebook page.

The minister also said that the authorities will investigate the security of bridges and tunnels throughout the country.

The statement of Autostrade per l'Italia states that the company conducted regular inspections at the site and that they gave satisfactory results.