At least 20 people were killed and 13 injured after part of a bridge collapsed on a main highway in Italy.

It happened in the Italian port city of Genoa on Tuesday during a violent and sudden storm. The bridge is the main highway that connects Italy to France.

The 200-metre section of the Morandi Bridge collapsed over an industrial zone. Two warehouses below the collapse were believed to be closed for the summer holiday and no one was inside.

During a press conference in Rome, the head of Italy’s civil protection agency Angelo Borelli said the victims appear to all have been in vehicles that plunged from the bridge.

Sniffer dogs are being used to search the rubble in hopes of finding more victims. Heavy equipment has also been brought in to lift pieces of the bridge.