GENOA, Italy (AP) - Davide Capello was driving across the bridge toward the Italian city of Genoa when suddenly, the road dropped out from under him.

A trained firefighter, he understood immediately that the structure had collapsed. Capello was at the midpoint of the bridge, he recounted Friday, when "everything, the world, came down." The 33-year-old said: "I heard a noise, a dull noise. I saw the columns of the highway in front of me come down.

A car in front of me disappeared into the darkness." His car plunged nose first, then suddenly stopped with a crash, airbags releasing around him. He said he saw only gray. Outside, he said, "there was an unreal silence."

Capello was released from the hospital Thursday, two days after the collapse. He had no major physical injuries.