Genoa, trial for Morandi: today the survivors and those who witnessed the collapse speak in court
Genoa – “I was at Ikea, I took the car to go home, once in via Walter Fillak I heard a frightening roar. I stopped the car, instinctively walked towards the bridge, there was a fuss, it seemed a slaughterhouse. I saw people coming down in slippers, everyone running. I raised my head and I saw the green van, the one from Basko, and nothing in front of it. There I understood that everything had collapsed, I went back but it was difficult to react, to reason, it was an unreal situation. I went back home, took my dog and turned on the TV, shortly after the broadcasts on the massacre began. I’m on the first floor, from the window I could see ambulances and firefighters. The following days were terrifying, the awareness of having escaped the collapse prevented me from sleeping, I started having panic attacks”.
Franca Biondi is a woman who lives in Sampierdarena, in Genoa, and is the first witness heard in the trial on the Ponte Morandi massacre43 victims on 14 August 2018 in the collapse of the infrastructure on the A10.
From this morning the debate really comes alive, with hearings from the survivors and those who witnessed the collapse of the viaduct. Today, in addition to that of Franca Biondi, the depositions of Gianluca Ardini are expected, the Genoese courier who remained suspended in the rubble with the lifeless body of his colleague Luigi Matti Altadonna next to him; of the spouses Eugeniu Babin and Nataliya Yelina, hairdresser and beautician from Caserta, who were going on holiday to Provence that day and were discharged after some surgery; by Ugo Capello, firefighter and former soccer player, originally from Nuoro, who still trapped in the debris had the strength to call his father and reassure him; by Daniele Dubbini, a musician originally from Sarzana, who engaged the reverse gear and managed not to fall.
Eugeniu Babin’s account: “I was driving a dark blue Focus, it was raining and there was little traffic. We went slowly, I followed the other cars, the Bridge suddenly moved under our feet, lifted us up and threw us down, I remember the feeling of emptiness. I was conscious, but as I fell I closed my eyes. I remember yelling for help while we were under the rubble, we couldn’t get out. I heard the sound of the helicopter. I suffered a spinal injury as a result of the collapse.”
Nataliya Yelina, wife of Eugeniu Babin: “The bridge seemed to move, to rise, it was clear that something was wrong. It was raining very heavily, suddenly we felt in a vacuum, in nothingness. I remember the noise, the car banging from all sides we left and then we found ourselves in a kind of pit, covered by rubble. we would never have gotten out there. Then I saw that my foot was broken, I started to feel pain everywhere“. Her description of the injuries suffered: “I was at San Martino for 40 days for lumbar injuries, a broken coccyx, a broken foot. I did a year and a half of rehabilitation, recently had my last lumbar surgery. I suffered permanent injuries: chronic neuropathy and cervical, widespread lack of sensitivity, difficulty moving the fractured foot”.