Romania has been plunged into mourning after 27 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in a fire that ripped through an underground nightclub in Bucharest.
Survivors spoke of the horror that unfolded when fireworks - set off during a pre-Halloween gig by a heavy metal band late on Friday - unleashed a blaze, followed by a stampede as terrified clubbers sought the exit.
As the Government declared three days of national mourning Prime Minister Victor Ponta said foreigners were among the injured, including two Spanish people, an Italian and a German, authorities said.
President Klaus Iohannis said there were indications that safety regulations had been ignored at the club, and called for a swift investigation.
"I am saddened, but also revolted that a tragedy of this scale could have taken place in Bucharest," Iohannis said.
"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 added after visiting the scene.
"I hope that the authorities manage their inquiry with speed and rigour."
The blaze broke out at around 11pm local time on Friday at the Colectiv nightclub, where according to witnesses between 200 and 400 young people had gathered for a performance by rock group Goodbye to Gravity.
Twenty-six people died in the club and one died in hospital, the secretary of state for the interior, Raed Arafat, said after a meeting of a national emergency committee.
Of the nearly 200 injured, 146 people were hospitalised for burns, smoke inhalation and other injuries, he said. Hospital sources said 10 were in a critical condition.
The band's singer and bassist were said to be in a serious condition, according to local reports.
"This is the worst tragedy of its kind" to have ever happened in Bucharest, Arafat said.
Iohannis said he was "shocked" and in "deep pain".
"It is a very sad moment for our nation," he said in a post on his Facebook page, expressing his "solidarity and compassion" for the families of the victims.
Witnesses described nightmarish scenes when fireworks set fire to a pillar and part of the ceiling.
The crowd panicked as thick smoke engulfed the room, prompting people to scramble to escape from the club, located in a communist-era basement.
"People were fainting, they were fainting because of the smoke. It was total chaos, people were trampled," witness Victor Ionescu told local television station Antena 3.
Another witness, Alin Panduru, said the fire spread "in 30 seconds".
"People could not get out of the club because there was only one exit open and the stampede happened immediately," he told online news portal Hotnews.
Several media outlets reported that a second exit was closed at the time when the blaze broke out.
More than 500 firefighters, ambulance crew and police were mobilised.
AFP
