ROME — A major highway bridge along the northern Italian coast collapsed Tuesday in an alarming infrastructure failure, sending concrete and vehicles plunging more than 150 feet and leaving dozens dead in the rubble below.

As the death toll climbed, reaching 35 by the evening, according to the Italian news agency ANSA, officials here were preparing to investigate how a bridge that had stood for five decades suddenly gave out, turning a major transportation artery into an earthquake-like scene of destruction.

The Morandi Bridge, which has stood for five decades, links highway traffic between Italy and France. It's unknown why the structure in Genoa collapsed, but it reflects the state of Italy's infrastructure after two decades of economic woes. Associated Press/Antonio Calanni

In this photo released by the Italian firefighters, rescue teams work among the rubble of the collapsed Morando highway bridge in Genoa, northern Italy, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. A bridge on a main highway linking Italy with France collapsed in the Italian port city of Genoa during a sudden, violent storm, sending vehicles plunging 90 meters (nearly 300 feet) into a heap of rubble below. (Vigili Del Fuoco via AP)

“These kind of tragedies cannot and should not happen in a civil country,” Italy’s transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, told the Italian TV channel TG1. “Those who will be considered responsible will need to pay to the last cent. It should not be possible to see images like these in a country like Italy.”

The event mortified a country that is increasingly known, despite its beauty, for its creaky underpinnings, particularly after two decades of economic stagnation. The bridge collapse took place during one of Italy’s busiest periods for holiday traffic, when families abandon cities en masse and head for the beach, including to small towns to the east and west of Genoa overlooking the Ligurian Sea.

The collapse in Genoa occurred during a torrential rainstorm and left slabs of gray concrete and twisted strands of iron blanketing railroad tracks, buildings and a river bed filled with weeds and marsh grass. As helicopters waited nearby, rescuers with the help of sniffing dogs scrambled to pull people from the rubble, scaling slabs of concrete angled like mountains.

One Italian official told ANSA that 30 to 35 cars and three trucks were on the Morandi Bridge when it collapsed. The bridge spans a three-quarter-mile section of the coastal city and carries highway traffic between Italy and France. Video showed eyewitnesses screaming just after a section of the bridge gave way. One truck was stopped just a few feet from the edge of the chasm – the edge of the bridge sheared cleanly off.

One eyewitness, who gave his name as Andrea Rescigno and said he was in his car at the time of the bridge collapse, said in a phone interview with Genoa TV station Primocanale that he saw “cars and trucks plunging into the void.”

It was unclear what had caused the collapse, but the event raised questions among some Italian government officials about maintenance of their country’s infrastructure – a common concern in developed countries, where many of the major roadways were built decades ago. The prosecutor’s office in Genoa said it was ready to open a criminal inquiry.

The company that operates and maintains the highway, along with many other roads in Italy, said in a statement Tuesday that “stabilization” work was ongoing at time of the collapse. The highway bridge was erected in the 1960s, the company, Autostrade per l’Italia, said.

“The causes of the collapse will be the subject of an in-depth analysis as soon as it is possible to gain safe access to the site,” Autostrade per l’Italia said.

After the collapse in Genoa, several people were pulled from the rubble alive, according to Italian media reports. Prime minister Giuseppe Conte was planning Tuesday to visit Genoa, and French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter that “France stands by Italy” and “is ready to provide all necessary support.”

The disaster and its aftermath provide a test for Italy’s new government, a coalition of two populist parties that took power two-and-a-half months ago. The government had not placed an emphasis on road and highway spending in its platform, but its leaders spoke Tuesday about the need for investment.

Deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, the highest-profile politician in Italy’s government, said the country needed to figure out the “names and surnames of those who are guilty of these unacceptable deaths.”

The Morandi Bridge was named after its engineer, Riccardo Morandi, who died in 1989, but locals often called it the Brooklyn Bridge because of its passing resemblance.

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