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Associated Press

An explosion and ensuing flames on a stage at a Bucharest nightclub has left 27 people dead and 180 injured, in one of the Romanian capital’s worst tragedies in decades.
Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea said the explosion occurred on Friday night at Colectiv club in downtown Bucharest, a city of 3 million people.
Witnesses told Antena 3 TV that there were between 300 to 400 people at the club when the metal band Goodbye to Gravity was performing and a “pyrotechnical show” went awry. The station reported that people panicked and rushed for the exit.
Digi 24 television station cited witnesses who said the explosion came after a spark on stage ignited some polystyrene decor.
Victor Ionescu, who was at the club with his girlfriend, told Antena 3 TV there were huge flames after the explosion.

“People were fainting, they were fainting from the smoke. It was total chaos, people were trampling on each other,” he said. “It was a tragedy that could have been avoided if there had been more organisation from the emergency services.”
A young man filmed by Antena 3 said that flames engulfed clubgoers, burning their skin and hair.
Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat said the situation was “slowly stabilising”.
“We have many people with burns, intoxicated with smoke and people trampled,” he said, adding many victims had no identification documents.
Arafat said the victims were admitted to 10 hospitals in Bucharest.
“I saw fire all over the place,” a woman at the club told private Romania TV. “I saw people changing their mood from happiness to deep panic.”

TV footage showed police officers and paramedics trying to resuscitate young people lying on the pavement while sirens wailed with more ambulances deployed to the scene.
“There was a stampede of people running out of the (Colectiv) club,” a man who escaped without shoes said.
Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea, who said a “code red” emergency procedure was enforced, said an investigation into the causes of the incident was already under way, and the health minister launched a public appeal for blood donations.
Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis said: “I want to assure you of all support from rescuing forces and ask you to trust they put all efforts to limit the impact of this catastrophe.”
An emergency meeting of cabinet ministers was set for early on Saturday to assess the incident.
According to the Bucharest-based metal band’s Facebook page, lead singer Andrei Gault was the 2008 winner of Megastar, a Romanian show similar to American Idol. The band has five members and has released two albums since it formed in 2011.
The ministry says there were 60 ambulances and fire engines sent to the scene and a mobile hospital had been set up outside.
Associated Press, Reuters
 
 
 


Nightclub blaze after fireworks explosion kills 27, injures 180 in Romanian capital

A survivor of the explosion that occurred in a club in Bucharest is led away from the blast scene wrapped in a thermal blanket. Photo: AP

Emergency services to rescue a partygoer after the fire in a nightclub in Bucharest, Romania. Photo: AP

Forensic workers collect items outside the site of an explosion that occurred in a club in Bucharest. Photo: AP

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Clubgoers describe chaos after concert blast as fire sparks stampede


Nightclub blaze after fireworks explosion kills 27, injures 180 in Romanian capital

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Clubgoers describe chaos after concert blast as fire sparks stampede

Clubgoers describe chaos after concert blast as fire sparks stampede