By Stefania Fumo
ROME, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Italy's national soccer team on Tuesday laid a wreath at the remains of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, which collapsed on Aug. 14, killing 43 people.
The midsection of the busy 1960s viaduct in the northwestern port city fell apart during a torrential downpour, sending some 30 cars and trucks crashing onto a riverbed, train tracks, and warehouses that lay 45 meters below.
Among the victims were families with children, groups of young friends going on holiday, and workers. They included people from Albania, Colombia, Chile, France, Jamaica, Romania, and Peru, according to the Genoa prefecture.
Coach Roberto Mancini and the team, led by players from the city's two teams: former Genoa goalie Mattia Perin and Sampdoria striker Gianluca Caprari, observed silence at the disaster site.
They were accompanied by Giovanni Toti, the governor of the Liguria region where Genoa is located.
"The Italian national football team is with Genoa: a moment of silence in the area of the Morandi Bridge collapse. Thank you," tweeted the governor, along with photos of the players in dark suits standing soberly with the remains of the bridge behind them.
The visit came ahead of a friendly match with Ukraine to be played in the stricken northwestern city's Luigi Ferraris stadium on Wednesday.
A Ukraine delegation also paid their respects at the site of the deadly disaster earlier in the day.
The collapse orphaned nine children, and the Italian football federation (FIGC) said in a statement Tuesday that it will finance scholarships for them for the next three years.
Some 600 residents who were displaced from their homes following the bridge collapse have been invited to Wednesday's match for free, and Mancini and the players will meet 100 kids from the Morandi Bridge area as well as the nine orphans during a walk around the stadium, the FIGC said.
The national team's jerseys will say "Genova nel cuore" (Italian for "Genoa in our hearts"), and the game will be halted at the 43rd minute in commemoration of the 43 victims, the football federation said.
