Italy judge sends 59 people for trial over 2018 Genoa bridge collapse

MILAN — An Italian judge on Thursday ordered 59 people, including former Atlantia CEO Giovanni Castellucci, to stand trial over the deadly collapse of a bridge in Genoa four years ago, judicial sources told Reuters.

The trial will start in Genoa on July 7, the sources added.

The road bridge, operated by Atlantia's motorway unit Autostrade per l'Italia, collapsed in the port city on Aug. 14, 2018, killing 43 people and laying bare the dire state of Italy's crumbling infrastructure.

The collapse, which saw a vast stretch of the A10 freeway tumble on to railway lines in the northern port city, came as the bridge was undergoing maintenance work and as the Liguria region, where Genoa is situated, experienced torrential rainfall. AFP/ Valery Hache/ File photo

Judge Paola Faggioni, at the end of a closed-door preliminary hearing that began last October in a Genoa court, also accepted the settlement proposed by Autostrade and its sister company SPEA to close the case.

Autostrade had offered to pay €1 million ($1.1 million) as a settlement and €26 million in compensation to the Italian state for the case, while SPEA had proposed to pay €810,000 to settle.

Last June, Italian prosecutors had asked for Autostrade, SPEA and 59 individuals to be sent to trial but the payments mean the companies will not be involved any more.

The disaster sparked outrage in Italy and triggered a dispute between Atlantia and the government that ended last June with the sale of Atlantia's controlling stake in Autostrade to state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and investment partners.

In a document on the probe's findings seen by Reuters, prosecutors said last year that the collapse was triggered by the rupture of the load-bearing cables inside the stay of the bridge's ninth pillar, which were eaten away by a highly corrosive atmosphere over the 51 years of the bridge's life.

Managers at Atlantia units Autostrade and SPEA allegedly avoided proper checks of the state of the infrastructure and did not correct serious issues that started to emerge only a few years after the viaduct had opened in 1967, the document said.

Under Italian law, firms can be held responsible for their employees' actions.

The managers and Autostrade and SPEA have denied any wrongdoing over the bridge collapse. — Reuters