A woman holds a placard in front of a Romanian national flag during a demonstration against the political class and Romanian authorities during the fourth day of protest in Bucharest on Friday evening.
AFP/Reuters
Bucharest
The toll from a nightclub fire in Bucharest that brought down the Romanian government has risen to 39, officials said yesterday.
Seven more people have died of their injuries this week after the tragedy at Bucharest’s Colectiv club on October 30, when fireworks let off during a rock band’s performance triggered a blaze and a stampede as panicked revellers tried to get out.
The fire sparked mass anti-government protests, with many viewing compromised safety standards at the club as emblematic of Romania’s wider problem with rampant corruption.
Prime minister Victor Ponta, who had been under pressure for weeks as he goes on trial on corruption charges, quit on Wednesday, saying that it was right for top officials to take responsibility for the tragedy.
Two of those who died this week – one of them Romanian, the other Italian – passed away in the Netherlands, where they had been transported on Friday for treatment, interim prime minister Sorin Campeanu told a press conference.
The four others, badly burned and suffering from respiratory problems, succumbed to their injuries in hospitals in Bucharest, interior minister Raed Arafat said.
There were no immediate details on the seventh victim.
Around a hundred people, most of them young, remain hospitalised – including 48 in critical condition, according to the government.
The earlier toll stood at 32 dead and 200 injured.
Initial investigations suggest numerous breaches of the safety rules at the club, including a lack of emergency exits and the fact that flammable materials were used for sound insulation.
The club’s three bosses, detained since Tuesday on manslaughter charges, did not have the authorisation to host concerts, let alone pyrotechnic shows.
Ponta’s resignation has not stemmed the huge protests by Romanians demanding a “profound change” in the way the country is governed, with some 15,000 spilling into the streets of Bucharest on Friday for a fourth night running.
Consultations over a new Romanian prime minister will resume next week after initial talks with political and civil society leaders yielded no candidate, President Klaus Iohannis said.
Yesterday, anti-corruption prosecutors said they had taken Cristian Popescu Piedone, the mayor of the Bucharest district where Colectiv is located, into custody.
He had resigned in the wake of the protests.
They said evidence has shown that Piedone had granted a working permit for the club despite the fact it did not have authorisation from firefighters.
“Given that several ... events took place ... in broadly unsafe public conditions, the lives, health and physical integrity of the audience and staff were permanently put in danger,” prosecutors said in a statement.
