Thousands of people marched in central Bucharest on Sunday to honor the people killed in a weekend disco fire as the death toll from the tragedy climbed to 30.
Police said about 10,000 people marched from the city’s emblematic University Square to the scene of the blaze, where many were already gathered before a sea of flowers and candles set out by mourners.
Authorities said three more badly burned people succumbed to their injuries on Sunday, bringing the death toll from the blaze on Friday to 30, adding that the toll could still rise “significantly.”
Photo: Reuters
“I came to pay homage to those who died and to show my support for those who are fighting for their lives,” one marcher in his early 30s, Gabriel Mistodie, told reporters. “It was a tragedy caused in a way by corruption, indifference and incompetence ... and a sign that things should change in Romanian society.”
Another marcher, who gave her name as Oana, said they should have demonstrated “before, to say we would no longer go into such places, because we aren’t safe there.”
Romanian media on Sunday slammed as “irresponsible” both authorities and the owners of the Colectivu nightclub where the fire and subsequent stampede killed 27 on the spot and left nearly 200 injured.
About 140 people were still in hospital on Sunday, with 35 in critical condition, according to Romanian Secretary of State for Health Raed Arafat.
Investigators say 29 of those injured have yet to be identified.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Saturday pointed to safety failings at the nightclub, a former shoe factory.
“It is unimaginable that there could have been so many people in such a [small] space and that the tragedy happened so quickly because simple rules were ignored,” he said after visiting the scene. “We already have indications that the legal regulations had not been respected.”
The Evenimentul Zilei newspaper, under the headline “Coincidence, a curse or criminal negligence?” alleged that two other nightclubs belonging to one of the owners of the Colectivu club have also been destroyed by fire in recent years.
An editorial in the daily Gandul accused authorities of failing to impose stricter safety regulations in bars and discos after similar deadly accidents.
The editorial blamed the disaster on “irresponsibility” and “unscrupulousness.”
The Romanian Ministry of the Interior said between 300 and 500 mostly young people had been in the disco.
Witnesses said fireworks unleashed a blaze that was followed by a stampede as terrified clubbers scrambled to get out through only one exit and that there was no emergency exit.
A representative of the private company that carried out renovations in the industrial building told the DigiTV channel that the club’s owners had sought to skimp on security measures to save money and failed to consult the fire service.
He said poor-quality flammable material was used for soundproofing, which caused the blaze to spread rapidly.
The disco also did not have the required authorization to hold concerts or to stage pyrotechnic displays, Arafat said.
Investigators spent about 10 hours at the scene on Saturday to gather clues.
“We have collected samples of fabric, soundproofing material and other elements, that we must now analyze,” said George Gaman, the head of the team of experts.
“We have identified those among the injured in hospital whose condition allows them to tell us what happened,” the prosecutor’s office said.
According to several witnesses, most of the people killed were overcome by thick smoke before being trapped by the flames.
“To get out I had to dig through the bodies of those who were lying, unconscious, in front of the only exit,” one of the survivors, a young man who did not give his name, told Romanian television.
The tragedy inspired gestures of solidarity across the nation.
In Bucharest and in several large cities, hundreds of people lined up at transfusion centers to give blood for those injured.
Several musicians and groups announced that all receipts from their concerts would go to help the people affected and the families of those killed.
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
RSS