Dramatic rescue video shows a victim of the bridge collapse in Italy being saved from a crushed vehicle dangling above the ground
- A huge highway bridge collapsed in Genoa, northern Italy, on Tuesday morning, killing at least 35 people.
- But some have been pulled alive from the wreckage, including one victim who was pulled from a mangled vehicle suspended high above the ground.
- The victim had been stuck in a smashed-up Iveco vehicle, likely a van, wedged between two supports of the collapsed bridge.
- Footage shared on social media by Italian firefighters show two men lowering the blurred-out victim to the ground, where he was stretchered away.
A dramatic video from the wreckage of the devastating bridge collapse in Italy shows the moment a person was rescued from a crushed vehicle dangling above the ground
Authorities in Genoa, northern Italy, confirmed that 37 people died when the Morandi Bridge fell apart, sending cars, concrete and steel plummeting more than 150ft to the ground below.
But some people survived the deadly collapse. Footage posted on social media by Italy's firefighting agency showed rescuers helping a person who was caught in a mangled vehicle wedged in the concrete wreckage of the bridge.
The video shows rescuers lower the person to the ground with a winch then put them in a stretcher and take them away.
The caption in Italian describes it as "one of the rescues carried out by the teams of fire fighters."
The video blurs the person being rescued. The service does not identify them, and it isn't clear precisely what their condition is.
Rescuers searched through tons of concrete and steel after a section that was about 80 meters (262 feet) long and 50 meters (164 feet) above the ground. The bridge crossed over railway tracks and some buildings as well as a small river.
An investigation is underway to find out why the bridge collapsed. It was constructed in 1967 and renovated in 2016. The director of the motorway operator Austrade for Genoa said on Tuesday evening that it was too soon to determine the cause.
"The collapse was unexpected and unpredictable. The bridge was constantly monitored, even more than was foreseen by the law," Stefano Marigliani, Austrade director for the Genoa area, told Reuters.
"There was no reason to consider the bridge dangerous," he added.
Startling photos of the scene show a large portion of the bridge missing.
Cars were on the bridge when it collapsed, and people in the buildings underneath were also affected.
Italy's transport minister Danilo Toninelli said the collapse was "unacceptable," and that if negligence played a role, "whoever made a mistake must pay," the Associated Press reported.