Highway bridge collapses in northern Italy after landslide

A motorway bridge collapsed on Sunday in Italy's northwestern region of Liguria near the coastal city of Savona, a spokesman for SIAS, the company operating the highway, said. Liguria's president Giovanni Toti said bad weather had caused a massive landslide that hit the viaduct and that one car may have been involved but that hadn't been confirmed, according to Italy's ANSA press agency.

Liguria is the same region where a motorway bridge collapsed last year in Genoa, killing 43 people. Known as Morandi bridge, it was operated by Autostrade per l'Italia, a unit of infrastructure group Atlantia. Heavy rains have caused widespread flooding in northern Italy this month.

The SIAS spokesman said the toll road operator was carrying investigations to assess the situation. He said the 50-meter long viaduct on the highway linking the coast to Turin was just outside Savona. Motorway traffic was stopped in both directions, though only one of the two separate carriageways collapsed.

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