Italy mourned the victims of the collapse of a motorway bridge in the northern city of Genoa with a state funeral on Saturday (August 18), as rescue workers kept searching for the last few unaccounted people buried in the rubble.
The mass for 19 of the victims was held at the Exhibition and Trade Centre of the northern port city and led by the city's archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.
Genoa's Imam, Salah Hussein, led a prayer for the two muslim Albanian victims. Hussein prayed also for the rescuers and for the victims' families who boycotted the event and held their own private services, as a protest against the state, seen as negligent in its role of overseeing safety on the privately run bridge.
Chilean flags were draped over the coffins of chef Juan Carlos Pastenes, 64, and his wife, Nora Rivera and Campi Corniglianese football players paid their tribute to their 22-year-old team-mate who died in the collapse.
Italy's head of state, President Sergio Mattarella, and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte attended the ceremony.
A Genoa court will try to establish the exactly why the 51 year-old bridge collapsed, but experts said problems with concrete-encased cable stays were a possible cause.
REUTERS
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