Death toll from Romanian nightclub fire climbs to 44

The number of people who died in a nightclub fire in the Romanian capital has risen to 46, while a former mayor has been arrested over his alleged responsibility for the tragedy. Enache was being transported on a military aircraft to Zurich, Switzerland, on Sunday afternoon for remedy for his burns, when he went in to cardiorespiratory failure, the Inside Ministry stated.

On stage when the fire tore through the club, surviving members singer Andrei Galut and bassist Alex Pascu were hospitalized with burns and injuries from smoke inhalation, with Galut now recovering in a treatment centre in the Netherlands, while Pascu’s family are trying to relocate him to a different hospital. A plane from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation arrived in Bucharest late on Sunday to take a number of the injured for treatment to Britain and Norway overnight. The group’s two guitarists died the day after the blaze while two others are still seriously hurt in hospital. A few have wondered why Romania hasn’t asked for global help sooner since the area hospitals are struggling to treat all the burned victims from the fire.

The fire broke late on 30 October at the Colectiv club when fireworks set insulation foam ablaze, triggering a stampede towards the single exit.

Efforts to find a new prime minister will resume this week after initial talks with political and civil society leaders failed to produce a candidate, President Klaus Iohannis has said.

“I saw revolt [in the square], but also hope that things can change”.

The tragedy sparked mass anti-government protests and brought down Romania’s government led by Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

Raed Arafat, an emergency situations official, said Saturday that two people had died at the state burns hospital, while the manager at University Hospital, Catalin Cirstoiu, said a man there died of his injuries Saturday.