MILAN, Italy — The death toll is up following the bridge collapse in Italy, with officials saying at least 37 people died and two are missing.

Investigators believe a violent storm led to the Genoa highway bridge collapse.  

The Italian city's prefect office announced the updated figure on Wednesday even as rescuers searched through tons of slabs of broken roadbed, smashed concrete chunks and twisted steel for any more survivors.

At least two people were missing.

The Morandi Bridge collapsed without warning Tuesday, sending dozens of vehicles plunging as much as 50 meters (180 feet) below.

Sixteen people were injured. State radio said among them was a woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a fire sparked by debris falling into her home and a Czech truck driver who suffered a chest injury.

The disaster, on a major interchange connecting Genoa and other northern cities with beaches in eastern Liguria into France, focused attention on Italy’s aging infrastructure, particularly its concrete bridges and viaducts built in the postwar boom of the 1950s and 1960s.

Many in the city had said the 1967 bridge needed shoring up.

Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said the collapse was "unacceptable" and that if negligence played a role "whoever made a mistake must pay."