Italian footballer survives 30-metre fall in 'apocalyptic' bridge collapse

A former goalkeeper for Italian Serie A club Cagliari survived the deadly collapse of a motorway viaduct in Genoa on Tuesday despite going down with the bridge in his car and finishing among the rubble.

Davide Capello, who played for Italy’s under-20 side and made two appearances for the Sardinian side while they were in Serie B early last decade, managed to walk away after 200 metres of the Morandi viaduct crumbled at around midday (1000 GMT).

“I was driving along the bridge, and at a certain point I saw the road in front of me collapse, and I went down with the car,” Capello, who is now a firefighter, told TV news channel Sky TG24.

Emergency crews are scouring the wreckage for survivors and dead bodies following what Italian transport minister called an “immense tragedy”.

The death toll from the incident is expected to rise, with Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini claiming that “around 30” were dead and some local media quoting the fire service in saying that “at least 35” had been killed.

However Capello managed to clamber out of his car, which he says was “attached to a pylon”, and climb down the rubble to the police and firefighters waiting below.

“I heard a noise and then it all collapsed,” the shaken 33-year-old said.

“My car fell 30 metres and got stuck in the rubble. Some people helped me to get out.

“I don’t know how my car wasn’t crushed. It seemed like a scene from a film, it was the apocalypse.

“I was convinced it was going to end badly but thank God I’ve lived to tell the tale.”

Italy defender Domenico Criscito, currently a Genoa player, also spoke after the disaster, revealing that he had been driving on the bridge a mere 10 minutes before it fell.

Criscito’s Genoa cancelled a scheduled training session following the collapse out of respect for the town.

The incident is the deadliest of its kind in Europe since 2001 and the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy.

In March last year, a couple were killed when a motorway overpass collapsed on their car near Ancona on the country’s Adriatic coast.

A pensioner died in October 2016 when his car was crushed by a collapsing bridge over a dual carriageway between Milan and Lecco.

Since leaving Cagliari in 2005 after a season as their third choice goalkeeper in Serie A, Sardinia-born Capello tumbled down the leagues and eventually left professional football.

with AFP, Goal.com