#pain #families #bridging #process #Italy #great
The screams of people trapped under a collapsed bridge in Genoa in 2018 still haunt those who witnessed the deadly disaster for which 59 people are on trial this week.
The Morandi motorway in the north-west Italian city collapsed in torrential rain four years ago on August 14 four years ago, throwing cars and trucks into the abyss and killing 43 people.
“The sadness is infinite,” Egle Possetti, who heads a committee for the victims’ families, told AFP. Her sister Claudia died in the disaster along with her family.
“My sister was so happy. She had married Andrea a few days before the tragedy. They had just returned from their honeymoon in the United States,” she said.
Claudia’s children, ages 16 and 12, and her new husband Andrea were in the car with her when the ground collapsed beneath them.
– scream for help –
The tragedy highlighted the state of Italy’s transport infrastructure. Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI), which operates nearly half of Italy’s motorway network, has been accused of failing to maintain the bridge.
At that time, ASPI belonged to the Atlantia group, which is controlled by the wealthy Benetton family.
The family eventually bowed to pressure to sell their stake to the state for eight billion euros ($8.4 billion).
Former Atlantia boss Giovanni Castelluci is among the accused in the trial, which begins Thursday.
Possetti, 57, said she wasn’t counting on quick justice for those responsible for the disaster.
“In Italy, court cases are long and, unfortunately, often have unfavorable outcomes for the victims,” she said.
Children play soccer in what will soon become a memorial park to mark the spot where pillar number nine of the old bridge collapsed.
Not far away, a footbridge dedicated to the tragedy spans the Polcevera River, into which some of the vehicles that fell off the bridge fell and which is now bone dry due to drought.
“The screams under the rubble of people screaming for help, the flattened cars floating there and the bodies will live in my memory forever,” community leader Federico Romeo told AFP.
– ‘Need for Justice’ –
In the nearby Certosa district, many houses have “For Sale” signs.
“The historic businesses have almost all closed,” and property prices have plummeted, says Massimiliano Braibanti, who heads the neighborhood surveillance program.
The area bordering the site of the tragedy was cut off due to road closures for over a year to allow the bridge to be rebuilt. It has not benefited from aid left homeless by the collapse.
“I feel a need for justice, to know who is to blame for the deaths of my brother, nephew, sister-in-law and so many others – and that they will be held accountable for their actions,” Giorgio Robbiano, 45, told AFP.
Robbiano’s brother Roberto was on his way to their father’s house with his wife Ersilia and their eight-year-old son Samuele to celebrate his 44th birthday.
“They died on a bridge that was never maintained and speculated on to save on maintenance costs and make a profit,” Robbiano said.
His father died last year.
“He never got over the pain. And sadly, he will never have the opportunity to look the person who killed his son and grandson in the eye.”
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