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Italian police arrest six in connection with Genoa bridge collapse

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Italian police arrest six in connection with Genoa bridge collapse
A file photo shows the now-rebuilt Genoa motorway bridge in 2018. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Italy's financial police have arrested the former boss of motorway operator Autostrade in connection with the deadly collapse of the Genoa bridge, officials said Wednesday.

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Police said they had imposed measures including house arrest on three former and three current managers of Autostrade, a subsidiary of Italian
infrastructure group Atlantia.
 
 
News reports said Giovanni Castellucci, the former boss of both Autostrade and Atlantia, was among those under house arrest.
 
The financial police said the allegations, part of an investigation running alongside the main probe into the bridge collapse, regarded transport safety and fraud.
 
Autostrade was responsible for maintenance on the Genoa bridge, which collapsed in August 2018 killing 43 people.
 
The collapsed bridge in August 2018. Photo: AFP
 
The officials are suspected notably of ignoring defects in the barriers on the bridge, despite the potential risk to road safety, particularly in strong
winds.
 
Castellucci's lawyers stressed that the arrests on Wednesday were part of a "completely separate" case from that of the bridge collapse.
 

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In a statement carried by Italian media, they expressed confidence that the investigation would find he had done nothing wrong.
 
 
Autostrade along with several transport ministry officials is also under judicial investigation for culpable homicide over the bridge collapse..
 
A total of 74 people are accused in the ongoing legal case, which has seen investigators use a super computer to trawl through thousands of documents and files seized from Autostrade offices and the transport ministry.

The Morandi bridge has since been rebuilt, while many more of Italy's road bridges are now thought to be at risk of collapse.

READ ALSO: Did Italian authorities know Genoa's Morandi Bridge was at risk of collapse?

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