Autostrade probed in bridge collapse (3)

(ANSA) - Ancona, May 18 - Six managers and staff of motorway company Autostrade have been placed under investigation for the March 9 collapse of an overpass on the A14 highway near Ancona that killed two people and injured three more, judicial sources said Thursday. Those probed in the deaths of husband and wife Emidio Diomede and Antonella Viviani include New Works general manager Roberto Tomasi and procedures chiefs Giovanni Scotto Lavina and Guido Santini, the sources said. Also probed is Mauro Coletta, head of the Italian motorways oversight institute.
    Victims Diomede, 60, and his wife Viviani, 54, had been married for 36 years.
    They lived in Spinetoli near Ascoli Piceno, where they ran a packaging business at Colli del Tronto.
    They were in a Nissan car that was travelling under the bridge.
    The couple left two children, Daniela and Daniele, the latter a former team manager of the Sambenedettese Calcio football club.
    Highway company Autostrade per l'Italia said that the bridge was a temporary structure to support an overpass that had been closed to traffic.
    The collapse took place amid work to broaden the highway between the South Ancona and Loreto exits to three lanes.
    Only one car was affected by the collapse, the one in which the dead people were travelling.
    The three injured people were construction workers.
    Opposition politicians said the collapse, which followed others in recent years, was "unacceptable".
    Some called for Transport Minister Graziano Delrio to resign.
    Prosecutors opened a probe into suspected culpable manslaughter.
    Highway maintenance and management company Autostrade said what had happened was a "tragic, one-off accident" and that Italy's motorway bridges were "safe".
    Ancona is a provincial capital in the Marche region.