By Sheena Roszell

GP woman travelling in Italy just misses bridge collapse

Aug 16, 2018 | 4:09 PM

A Grande Prairie woman travelling in Italy was just a few hours ahead of the bridge that collapsed in Genoa and killed dozens of people.

“We were actually travelling on the train from Milan to Santa Margherita Liguria/ Portofino area. which would have taken us right through where some of the collapse happened. I think we arrived here in Santa Margherita probably two or three hours before it actually collapsed,” Heather Coney told EverythingGP. 

She said after the collapse everything was closed north to Milan and they didn’t hear about the collapse until hours later. She says there is a very big sense of shock in Italy.

“The lady that we spoke to today at Trenitalia about our train ride from here on Saturday back to France is shocked.  They’re sad, the lady had tears in her eyes.  It’s huge, it’s a big, big deal and Genoa is a really big port for a lot of the big ships that come in.”

The 51-year-old bridge linked highways to Milan and France.  It was a vital lifeline for both commercial traffic as well as vacationers.

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The death toll was 38 as of Thursday. The country’s interior minister expects the death toll will increase as rescuers continue to search tonnes of rubble for the missing.