Genoa death toll rises to 43 as heartbroken families gather for state funeral - but some refuse to attend in protest

Heartbroken families of people killed in the Genoa bridge disaster have refused to attend the state funeral for their loved ones in protest.

It comes as the death toll rose to 43 on Saturday after four more bodies were found in the rubble.

Italy’s ANSA news agency said a family of three, including a child, was found in a car smashed under a huge block of concrete. The body of a 30-year-old was also discovered.

Saturday has been declared a national day of mourning in Italy. A state funeral was taking place today in the industrial port city for those who plunged 45m to their deaths on Tuesday.

But several angry families have rebuffed the offer. While some cited the need to say farewell in private, others refused after accusing the authorities of negligence over the bridge collapse.

Anger erupted at the private funeral for four men in their 20s, all friends from the Naples seaside suburb of Torre del Greco. They had been heading for a holiday in Spain as the motorway bridge fell apart.

Naples cardinal Crescenzio Sepe said: "You can't, you mustn't die for negligence! For carelessness! For irresponsibility! For superficiality!"

Finding the cause of the bridge's collapse, during a rainstorm, may take weeks or months to determine.

But Genoa prosecutors say they are focusing their investigation into possible criminal blame on design flaws or inadequate maintenance on the heavily used bridge, which was completed in 1967 and linked two high-speed motorways in the city.

Roberto Battiloro, whose 29-year-old son, a videographer, was one of the four friends who died, said: “My boy and the others suffered murder.

“They died an absurd, blameless death just for going on holiday."

Other private funerals were held in Piedmont and elsewhere in Italy.

Survivors, meanwhile, described their shock at escaping with their lives.

Davide Capello, 33, a firefighter and football player, was driving alone on the bridge when his Volkswagen Tiguan and the road it was on plunged to the ground.

He immediately understood that the structure was collapsing, watching in shock as a car in front of him "disappeared in darkness".

"It came down, everything, the world came down," he said, adding he managed to walk away physically unharmed but psychologically traumatised.

His car plunged nose first, then stopped with a crash, air bags releasing all around him. He said he saw only grey as concrete dust covered the windows.

He then called his girlfriend and his father, a retired firefighter, who told him to get out of the car immediately for fear it would destabilise or something heavy would fall on top of it.

Outside, he said, "there was an unreal silence": destroyed vehicles and piles of broken concrete with no signs of life and no cries for help. Rescue workers then helped him climb down from the rubble.

"I got out with my own legs," said Mr Capello, who plays for a Serie C club in Liguria. "I don't know if anyone else managed to. I was saved by a miracle. The car protected me. Besides God, the car also did its job."

Excavators have begun clearing large sections of the collapsed bridge. Among them was the green food delivery truck which had halted only a few metres from the jagged edge of the abyss.

The authorities are worried about the stability of large remaining sections of the bridge, which was built over or adjacent to several apartment buildings.

Hundreds of people in those buildings have been evacuated, with no guarantee they will ever return to those homes.

Additional reporting by agencies