Romania in mourning, IDs some club-fire victims
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania declared three days of national mourning after a fire in a Bucharest nightclub killed at least 27 people and injured dozens more during a rock concert.
Another 180 people were wounded in the Friday night blaze and were being treated at several hospitals in Bucharest, according to a statement from Romania’s Interior Ministry. Most of the victims were 16-30 years old, Antena3 TV station reported.
The Interior Ministry said 81 of the injured had been identified. The general prosecutor’s office said five of the dead had still to be identified. The Interior Ministry, which set up seven phone lines for families to call to find out about the tragedy, said Saturday that it had received more than 1,000 calls.
Prime Minister Victor Ponta asked Saturday for the authorities to verify that all clubs in the country comply with safety standards, after President Klaus Iohannis earlier said the establishment in question didn’t respect the rules or have clearance from firefighters to hold the event.
Prosecutors also started an investigation to determine what caused the fire. Police spent all night in the club investigating the blaze and questioning the club’s owners.
“I am outraged that such a tragedy happened right in the center of Bucharest,” Iohannis said Saturday after visiting some of the injured people.
The death toll may rise because of the severity of the injuries of those hospitalized, Raed Arafat, deputy interior minister, said in a news conference Saturday. The fire, which caused the worst such tragedy in Romania’s recent history, started during a pyrotechnical show of a heavy metal band. Most victims have burns and are suffering from smoke inhalation.
“Many of the people injured are in a critical state,” Arafat said. “The club didn’t have an authorization from firefighters, and there were no documents showing that they ever filed for one.”
An Italian woman, two Spaniards and a German man were among the injured, according to a statement from Romania’s Intelligence Agency.
Two members of the band Goodbye to Gravity, which was giving a free concert at the club, were killed. Guitarists Vlad Telea and Mihai Alexandru, were among the 27 dead, Mediafax news agency reported, citing the band’s record label Universal Music Romania. Lead singer Andrei Galut, bassist Alex Pascu and one other band member were hospitalized with serious injuries.
About 20 clubs in Bucharest announced that they were canceling Halloween parties Saturday out of respect for the victims of the fire. At least one club said it would remain closed until the period of mourning is over.
The fire started after flames from the fireworks came into contact with the soundproofing materials on the club’s ceiling, according to a witness cited by Realitatea TV. Between 300 and 500 people were in the Colectiv nightclub, which had a total surface of about 4,500 square feet, according to Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea. The club had only one exit.
Delia Tugui, a Spanish teacher at the American International School of Bucharest who was at the concert with her husband and son, said clubgoers were surprised by how fast the fire spread, and they panicked.
“The lead singer made a quick joke: ‘This wasn’t part of the program.’ The next second, he realized it wasn’t a joke and asked for a fire extinguisher,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “In 30 seconds … the fire spread all over the ceiling. People rushed to the entrance but it was too narrow, and people panicked.”
“Friends were looking for each other under the pile of people. Asking ‘Is it you? Where are you? I can’t see you. Is that your arm?’ It was a nightmare.”
She said she knew some would not escape.
“I realized that those on the other side of the bar would not get out alive.”
“I was [about 6 feet] from the door, and I barely got out,” she said in an interview. “People started pushing each other, stamping on each other, it was incredibly quick.”
Once she got outside, there was blast and her hair caught fire, Tugui said.
“I tried to put it out with my hands and got burned. People behind me were burned from head to toe,” she said. “Other people were hairless, their clothes were half-burned, and skin burned.”
In 2009, a fire at a similar event killed more than 100 people in the Russian city of Perm after an indoor fireworks display set a decorative brushwood ceiling afire.
Information for this article was contributed by Andra Timu of Bloomberg News and by Alison Mutler of The Associated Press.