Videos show the shocking aftermath of the Genoa bridge collapse

Shocking videos of the wreckage from Genoa's bridge collapse show the scale of the devastation and the desperate efforts by heroic firefighters to rescue victims from the rubble.

A huge 260ft section of the 50-year-old Morandi bridge gave way about 11.30am on Tuesday, killing at least 26 people and injuring scores more both crossing in their cars and crushed below.

Cars, tonnes of twisted steel and concrete debris fell into a river, railroad tracks and an industrial zone below, flattening vehicles and leaving rubble embedded in buildings.

Aerial footage shows cars strewn around the ground below the felled bridge like toys, many completely flattened by giant chunks of concrete that littered the landscape.

A truck was even thrown through the air and crashed into a nearby building where its mangled wreck was stuck among the walls as firefighters looked for survivors inside.

Harrowing footage showed them climbing and abseiling alongside the wreck, before finding an injured victim trapped among the pieces of concrete wall the truck and other debris dislodged.

Among the devastation, a handful of survivors were miraculously plucked from the 'apocalyptic' wreckage and rushed to hospital - some falling in their cars about 150ft to the ground below.

In another video, rescuers worked to free other victims trapped between rubble, under gigantic concrete slabs criss-crossed with steel wires to reinforce them.

Firefighters climbed across the unstable debris before using an angle grinder to cut through the wires and eventually drag out a victim who was trapped for hours after the bridge collapsed.

Another victim was seen being winched on a stretcher from among the boulder-sized pieces of concrete, before they were whisked away by emergency helicopters.

Though there were no signs of life well before nightfall, firefighters vowed not to give up the search until all hope was lost, working into the night and planning to use sniffer dogs to find those still trapped.