BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The drummer of a heavy metal band playing when a fire broke out at a nightclub has died, bringing the death toll from last week’s tragedy to 45.
Bogdan Enache, drummer in the Goodbye to Gravity band that was playing in Colectiv on Oct. 30, died on Sunday evening, said the medical director of the state burns hospital, Cristian Nitescu.
The Interior Ministry said Enache was being transported on a military plane to Zurich, Switzerland, on Sunday afternoon for treatment for his burns, when he went into cardiorespiratory failure. The plane headed back to Bucharest, while medics tried to resuscitate him for 70 minutes. He died after he landed in Romania.
Dozens of people injured in the blaze remain hospitalized with serious burns as authorities warn that the death toll could continue to rise.
Romania continued to send the injured to other countries for treatment. A plane from NATO arrived in Bucharest late Sunday and will take a number of the injured for treatment overnight to Britain and Norway, emergency situations official Raed Arafat said.
In recent days, a total of 21 injured people have been transported to hospitals in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Israel and Germany, the health ministry said.
A fire broke out at the Colectiv nightclub during a concert by the heavy metal group, after a spark from a pyrotechnics show ignited foam decor. The band’s two guitarists died last week from their injuries.
In another development Sunday, President Klaus Iohannis appeared at protest staged by a few hundred people in University Square, now in its sixth consecutive day. Iohannis, who was surrounded by security staff, was booed by demonstrators who shouted “Resign!” He spoke to a few protesters and left after less than half an hour. Iohannis has called on Romania’s civil society to take part in consultations for a new government.
Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his Cabinet resigned Wednesday after mass protests, which have continued this week.
Enache’s death was the fourth reported on Sunday. Nitescu earlier reported that a man had succumbed to his injuries at the state burns hospital late Saturday.
Mediafax news agency reported two other patients died early Sunday at the Floreasca Emergency Hospital, including a Turkish man studying in Romania, and a woman who worked at the club’s bar.
Nine deaths were announced Saturday, the highest number for a single day.
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DEATH TOLL FROM ROMANIAN FIRE REACHES 41; FORMER MAYOR ARRESTED
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Nine people died on Saturday from injuries sustained in a fire at a nightclub in Romania eight days ago, bringing the number of dead to 41 in a case which has sparked protests and led to the resignation of the government.
Two of the latest victims died in the Netherlands, where they had been transported for specialized treatment.
A little over 100 people are still in hospital and more than 40 of them are in serious or critical condition, Romania’s interim prime minister, Sorin Cimpeanu, said.
The fire broke out late on Oct. 30 at a rock concert in the Colectiv nightclub in the capital Bucharest. Fireworks set insulation foam ablaze, triggering a stampede towards the single exit and trapping many of the roughly 400 people inside.
Tens of thousands of people subsequently took to the streets across Romania, angry at a public administration widely seen as corrupt, and the protests continued even after the cabinet resigned.
On Saturday several thousand protesters – though less numerous than on previous days – rallied for a fifth consecutive day to chant “Corruption kills” and “We won’t go home, the dead won’t let us”.
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.
On Saturday, anti-corruption prosecutors said they had taken Cristian Popescu Piedone, mayor of the Bucharest district where Colectiv is located, into custody. He had resigned in the wake of the protests.
They said evidence had shown that Piedone granted a working permit for the club despite the fact it did not have authorization 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.
The club’s three owners were taken into custody on Nov. 2. City hall clerks and the owners of the company that installed the fireworks were also being investigated.
The fire has prompted an outpouring of community support, with people donating blood and money and volunteers taking food and drinks to hospitals for medical staff and victims’ families.
Outside the club, people continued to light candles and lay flowers in remembrance.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Andrew Bolton) Reuters
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