At least 37 people were killed when a bridge collapsed in the Italian port city of Genoa, police said on Wednesday after firemen worked through the night looking for any survivors buried under the rubble.

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At least 37 people were killed when a bridge collapsed in the Italian port city of Genoa, police said on Wednesday after firemen worked through the night looking for any survivors buried under the rubble.

An 80-meter section of a highway bridge has crashed over the northern Italian port city of Genoa during torrentia rains. Several cars and large slabs of concrete fell into the river below and onto building and railway tracks.

The country’s transport minister called the collapse an ‘Immense tragedy’.

The highway is a major artery to the Italian Riviera and to France’s southern coast. Authorities expect the number of fatalities to rise. Train Services around Genoa have been halted. The Genoa bridge on the A10 was built in 1960 but renovated in 2016.

The highway operator said work to shore up its foundation was being carried out at the time of the collapse.

“The latest official number is 37 but we can’t rule out it could rise further,” a spokeswoman for the police in Genoa said.

A 50-meter (160-foot) high section of the Morandi bridge, including a tower that anchored several stays, crashed down with as many as 37 vehicles driving on it on Tuesday. Huge slabs of reinforced concrete plunged onto two warehouses, train tracks and a riverbed.

Sources: Reuters

Death tolls reported by Italian police