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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 4 augusT 2020
Genoa has new bridge 2 years after collapse that killed 43

By LUCA BRUNO, ANTONIO Riccardo Morandi, the en-
CALANNI and FRANCES gineer who designed the
D'EMILIO bridge built in the 1960s,
GENOA, Italy (AP) — With had recommended con-
a rainbow as a back- tinual maintenance to re-
drop, Italy's president in- move rust, especially from
augurated a replacement the corrosive effect of sea
bridge Monday in Genoa, air in the Mediterranean
but families of those killed port city, and pollution's
when the Morandi Bridge toll on concrete. Prosecu-
collapsed boycotted the tors have said they are in-
event along with the fire- vestigating to see whether
fighters who pulled many of proper maintenance was
the 43 dead from smashed consistently carried out
cars and trucks. over the years on the heav-
Two years ago this month, ily used span.
a stretch of the Morandi Earlier this summer, the Ital-
Bridge suddenly gave way ian government forged a
in a violent rainstorm, send- deal in which the Benetton
ing vehicles plunging to fashion family agreed to
the dry riverbed below. exit Autostrade per l'Italia,
The new structure — a key the company that man-
artery for the northwest- ages and maintains many
ern Italian port city — was A rainbow shines over the new San Giorgio Bridge in Genoa, Italy, Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. of Italy's highways and
erected thanks to round- Associated Press bridges. Its highway con-
the-clock construction, cession had included Mo-
even during the COVID-19 tural style as if the span "is our dead,'' Egle Possetti, said. randi Bridge. But that exit
pandemic. asking permission" to cross who leads an association Nine Italian air force jets will take some time, as Au-
Rain drenched the new the river. of the bridge victims' fami- flew in formation over the tostrade becomes a public
bridge, stopping just before The families of the dead lies, told Sky TG24. bridge, trailing smoke in the company under the deal
the ceremony which start- agreed to meet with Presi- Possetti, who lost a sister red, white and green colors and pays 3.4 billion euros
ed with a recitation of the dent Sergio Mattarella pri- and other family members of the country's flag. ($4 billion) in compensa-
names of the dead. vately but announced they in the collapse, said she Firefighters who battled to tion.
"We are suspended be- were skipping the actual hoped attention would extract survivors and bod- Piano designed the bridge
tween grief" over the trag- ceremony. They're upset stay focused on the ongo- ies from tons of twisted met- to evoke a ship's bows, to
edy and "pride for the that the company which ing criminal investigation al also decided to boycott honor the city's proud mari-
construction of the new maintained Morandi Bridge into the collapse. the ceremony in solidarity time history. The span has
bridge," its renowned ar- will still run the new structure During the ceremony, with the families, Sky TG24 43 lamps in memory of the
chitect, Renzo Piano, told for a while more — even Mayor Marco Bucci had said. dead.
his fellow Genoese in a though poor maintenance words for those who lost Prosecutors are probing Traffic will start crossing
speech. is being investigated as a loved ones in the collapse. what caused Morandi San Giorgio Bridge, named
Piano said he decided to possible cause of the col- "Our message to them is Bridge to collapse on Aug. after St. George, a saint
give the new San Giorgio lapse. very simple. This must never 14, 2018, on the eve of Ita- popular in Genoa, on
Bridge a low-key architec- "No one can give us back happen again,'' the mayor ly's biggest summer holiday. Wednesday.q

Notre Dame Cathedral's organ getting 4-year-long cleaning

By NADINE ACHOUI-LESAGE the cathedral's dedicated temperature variations it's
and ANGELA CHARLTON organists. been exposed to since
Associated Press "It's a very powerful organ, the 12th-century cathedral
PARIS (AP) — Pipe by pre- but with also a lot of poet- lost its roof, the agency
cious pipe, the organ that ry," said Johann Vexo, who said. Notre Dame remains
once thundered through was playing the organ dur- closed to the public.
Notre Dame Cathedral is ing an evening Mass when Experts started remov-
being taken apart after last the fire alarm sounded on ing the organ's keyboards
year's devastating fire. April 15, 2019. "It's just prob- Monday and will then take
The mammoth task of dis- ably the most beautiful or- out its pipes in a disman-
mantling, cleaning and re- gan in the world." tling process that will last
assembling France's largest Amazingly, the 8,000-pipe through the end of this
musical instrument started organ survived the fire, year, according to the re-
Monday and is expected which consumed the ca- construction agency. The
to last nearly four years. thedral's roof and toppled pieces will be placed in
Once restored, it will take its spire. But the blaze coat- special containers inside In this Thursday, May 2, 2013 file photo, Philippe Lefebvre, 64,
six months just to tune the ed the instrument in toxic the huge cathedral, where plays the organ at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
organ, according to the lead dust that must now be the cleaning and restora- Associated Press
state agency overseeing painstakingly removed. tion will take place.
Notre Dame's restoration. And while the organ didn't The general who leads the since the fire. that we have to be very
Its music isn't expected to burn, it did suffer dam- agency said the organ, Organist Vexo is already patient over the next few
resound again through the age from a record heat- which dates from 1733, will dreaming of that day. years," he told The Associ-
medieval Paris monument wave last summer and has next play again on April 16, "Like all my colleagues, we ated Press on Monday out-
until 2024, to the dismay of been affected by other 2024, marking five years are very sad, and we know side the cathedral. q