GENOA, Italy — Italy’s populist government intensified its attacks on Thursday on the bridge operator it blames for the viaduct collapse that killed dozens of people in Genoa as rescuers picked through rubble on the third day of desperate efforts to find survivors.

Anger is mounting over the tragedy and the structural problems that have dogged the decades-old Morandi bridge, which buckled without warning on Tuesday, sending about 35 cars and several trucks plunging 45 meters (150 feet) on to railway tracks below along with huge chunks of concrete.

The government has accused infrastructure giant Autostrade per L’Italia of failing to invest in sufficient maintenance — a claim the company denies — and said it would seek to revoke its lucrative contracts.

Shares in Atlantia, the holding company of Autostrade, slumped more than 21 percent Thursday in the wake of the barrage of criticism.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Thursday demanded that the company offer up to 500 million euros ($570 million) to help families and local government deal with the aftermath of the disaster.

“If we’ve put up five million euros, they should offer 500 million,” he told reporters.

“There needs to be an immediate, concrete and tangible signal for these families: they should put their hands on their hearts and in their wallets.”

With people still missing under huge piles of concrete, rescue workers clambered across the rubble hoping to find survivors.

Fire official Emanuele Gissi said the unstable mountains of debris made the search operation dangerous.

“We are still looking for cavities that can hide people, living or not,” he said, adding that the round the clock search had failed to find any more victims overnight.

Cranes and bulldozers worked to help clear the site as rescuers try to cut the biggest hunks of concrete and remove them.

“Then our personnel will try to see if there are any positive signs,” Gissi said.

At least 38 people were killed, according to an update by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte Thursday.

The dead include children aged eight, 12 and 13, according to Salvini, while three Chileans and four French nationals are among those killed. Sixteen people were injured.

Genoa’s Morandi viaduct was completed in 1967 but has been riddled with structural problems since its construction, which has led to expensive maintenance and severe criticism from engineering experts.

Its collapse during a storm prompted the government to announce a yearlong state of emergency in the region and day of mourning on Saturday, as hundreds of people remain displaced from apartments beneath the remaining shard of bridge.

The government, in power only since June, has pinned the blame on Autostrade, which operates and maintains nearly half Italy’s motorways.

Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said the company should be fined up to 150 million euros ($170 million).

Conte said on Wednesday his government would seek to revoke Autostrade’s contract for the A10 motorway, which includes the bridge, while a transport ministry spokesperson said the government was considering revoking all other motorway contracts awarded to the company.

Autostrade, which estimates it will take five months to rebuild the bridge, denies scrimping on motorway maintenance, saying it has invested over one billion euros a year in “safety, maintenance and strengthening of the network” since 2012.

Atlantia slammed the government for threatening to revoke its contracts “without any verification of the material causes of the accident”.

It warned that the government would have to refund the group the value of the contract, which runs until at least 2038.

The incident is the latest in a string of bridge collapses in Italy, where infrastructure generally is showing the effects of a faltering economy.

High above the frantic rescue effort, the engine of a green truck perched at the edge of the remaining strand of bridge continues to whir, a symbol of the heart-stopping moment when the bridge buckled, tossing vehicles and hunks of concrete into the abyss.

The driver saw the ground in front of him collapse in the driving rain and managed to slam on the brakes just inches from disaster.

He did not cut the engine as he fled the crumbling structure and his employer has said the truck has enough fuel to run for several more days, wipers and lights still on.

As desperate families wait to hear the fate of those still believed trapped, incredible stories of survival have emerged.

Davide Capello, a former goalkeeper for Italian Serie A club Cagliari, plunged with his car but was unscathed.

“I was driving along the bridge, and at a certain point I saw the road in front of me collapse, and I went down with the car,” he told TV news channel Sky TG24.

While around a dozen apartment blocks in the shadow of the viaduct were largely spared the impact of the falling concrete, the Liguria regional government said some 634 people had been evacuated.

Salvini said their homes would have to be pulled down. — AFP