Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Thursday that the state will have to take over the country’s motorways if companies who have concessions fail to do the job properly.
The Atlantia holding company that controls Italy's main highway earlier stated that the government could not revoke the concession without presenting specific failures by Atlantia that could have led to the incident. However, the company’s shares have plunged 24% since trading resumed in Milan earlier this morning.
The chief prosecutor of Genoa Francesco Cozzi stated later in the day that "there could be 10 to 20 people still missing" under the wreckage.
Di Maio’s statement comes two days after the tragic collapse of the Morandi bridge that killed 38 people in the northern Italian city of Genoa, also injuring many more. Addressing the collapse, the chief prosecutor of Genoa stressed that it was not a disaster, but a "human error" and promised to conduct a thorough investigation into bridge construction and maintenance procedures.
