Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli called the incident as an 'immense tragedy'.

"I am following with the utmost apprehension what has happened to #Genova and which looms as the immense tragedy. We are in close contact with highways and we are going to the place with the deputy Minister Rixi. My total closeness in these hours to the city," he tweeted.

Several video footage of the incident are currently going viral on social media.

Local emergency officials have been quoted as saying "dozens" died, BBC reported.

The police linked the disaster to what they called a violent cloudburst, reported the British media.

Several crushed vehicles are under the rubble with dead people inside and two people were pulled out alive, rescue sources told Italy's ANSA news agency.

Some lorries ended up in the Polvecera river, Carabinieri police sources told the agency.

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