GOODBYE TO GRAVITY - Officials Fear Death Toll Could Rise From Nightclub Fire In Romania
October 31, 2015, 8 years ago
According to the Associated Press, Romanian officials feared the death toll could rise after Bucharest metallers Goodbye To Gravity's pyrotechnical show sparked an inferno and a stampede at a Bucharest nightclub that killed 27 people and left 180 injured.
Some 146 club-goers remained hospitalized across the Romanian capital Saturday morning after hundreds fled in a panic late Friday, trying to get out of the Colectiv club's only exit door from a basement in downtown Bucharest.
Raed Arafat, an emergency situations official, said Saturday that 17 of those who died still have not been identified and he feared that others would die of their injuries.
TV stations posted a number for families to call to find out about the tragedy, the deadliest of its kind in the country's history.
Witnesses told Antena 3 TV that between 300 to 400 mostly young people had been at the club, housed in a former factory, when the metal band Goodbye to Gravity was performing and a pyrotechnical show went awry. They said there was only one exit.
Club-goers told Digi 24 television that a spark on stage ignited some polystyrene decor. Photos posted on social media appeared to show a flame emanating from a pillar covered in foam insulation as those in the audience applauded the band.
The government is meeting later Saturday and is expected to announce three days of mourning.
Watch a Romanian news report below:
