Deaths as Ship Slams Into Italian Port

At least four people died after a cargo ship slammed into a control tower in the Italian port of Genoa last night, toppling it into the harbor. A half-dozen other people remain unaccounted for, including some feared trapped inside the submerged elevator of the control tower, officials said. The crash occurred at around 11pm during a shift change, making the accounting of personnel more difficult.

By this morning, all that was left of the control tower was the mangled exterior staircase, tilted to its side. The tower itself, which was located on the very edge of a dock jutting out into the harbor, was either in the water or in a heap of wreckage on the dock. The ship was the Jolly Nero, listed at being 784 feet long and 98 feet wide. The Genoa port, located on Italy's Ligurian coast, is Italy's busiest in terms of overall handling of cargo, according to the port authority website. (More Genoa stories.)