A heavy metal band’s pyrotechnical show sparked a deadly fire Friday at a Bucharest nightclub, killing more than 20 people and injuring scores of the club’s mostly youthful patrons, officials and witnesses said. Adding to their anxiety was the fact that numerous clubgoers were not carrying identity papers so victims could not immediately be identified.
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A German man, an Italian woman, and two Spanish citizens were among the injured.
The government declared three days of morning for what’s been described as the worst bloodshed in the country since the 1989 anti-Communist revolution.
One eyewitness said there was a stampede of people running out of the club after the explosion, which is one of Bucharest’s worst incidents in decades.
Around 146 people remain hospitalized, a few in critical condition suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. The fire at what had been one of Boston’s foremost nightspots led to new requirements for sprinkler systems and accessible exits.
– December, 2004: In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a fire killed 194 people at the crowded Cromagnon Republic club after a flare ignited ceiling foam.
The authorities created seven help lines where people can inquire about their relatives and check whether they are among the dead: 021/2069291, 021/3130605, 021/2069283, 021/2648704, 021/2648525, 021/2069375 and 021/3122547. “It makes me sad”, said Claire Bruyere of Warwick, whose 27-year-old daughter Bonnie Hamelin died in the 2003 Station nightclub fire in West Warwick. “It was total chaos, people were trampled”, Victor Ionescu, a witness, told local media.
Hundreds of people responded to calls on Facebook for blood donations, with long queues forming outside several hospitals and donation centres in the capital early on Saturday.
A witness quoted by Romania’s state news agency said terrified concert-goers had to break the second door down to escape.
An event listing on the Colectiv nightclub’s Facebook page explained that the free show had been a record release party for Goodbye to Gravity.
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At least 25 people were reported to be in serious condition at the Municipal Hospital.
