Foreign minister Antonio Tajani has expressed Italy's "closeness" to the United States after a container ship crashed into a major bridge in the port city of Baltimore on Tuesday, causing the bridge to collapse, leaving least seven people missing and multiple vehicles detected underwater.
"A prayer for the victims of the tragic accident that occurred on the #Baltimore bridge," Tajani wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Tajani referred to the 3 kilometre-long Francis Scott Key Bridge which is part of a major highway.
"In the hope that the missing are well, I express on behalf of the Italian government our closeness to the US," the tweet added.
Two people were reported to have been pulled from the water. Some construction workers were on the bridge at the time it collapsed, the city's mayor said, adding that the incident is "an unspeakable tragedy".
It is too early to determine the cause of the crash, according to officials.
