Survivor, shaken, describes plunge off bridge in Italy

GENOA, Italy -- One survivor of the Genoa bridge collapse was in his car as it plunged 150 feet to the ground along with falling sections of highway and concrete. He said he immediately understood the structure was collapsing.

"It came down, everything, the world came down," said 33-year-old Davide Capello, a firefighter and soccer player who walked away traumatized but physically unharmed from Tuesday's disaster.

Excavators on Friday began clearing large sections of the collapsed highway bridge in the Italian port city on the Mediterranean Sea, searching for people still missing three days after the deadly accident Capello said ended with an "unreal silence."

The search entered a new phase as heavy equipment removed a large vertical section, clearing a new area to probe. Rescuers have been tunneling through tons of jagged steel, concrete blocks and crushed vehicles that plunged to the ground when the bridge suddenly broke up Tuesday during a downpour.

"It is very difficult to estimate the duration of the ... operations as we are going forward at a very slow pace and with a lot of caution," said firefighter spokesman Stefano Zanut.

Officials say 38 people are confirmed killed and 15 were injured. Prosecutors say 10 to 20 people might still be unaccounted-for, so the death toll is expected to rise.

The first funerals were being held Friday, ahead of a state funeral in Genoa to be celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.

The collapse occurred about midday Tuesday a day before Italy's biggest summer holiday, when traffic was particularly busy on the 51-year-old span linking two highways -- one leading to France, the other to Milan -- from this northwestern port city.