Bucharest nightclub explosion leaves 27 dead

At least 27 people have been killed and 180 injured after a fire sparked by stage pyrotechnics broke out in a nightclub in Bucharest, Romania.

Up to 400 people were inside the Colectiv Club on Friday night, to attend a free rock concert. Some remain unaccounted for on Saturday morning.

The fire is believed to have been caused by fireworks that were let off inside the club.

Romanian media reported that clubgoers had initially believed the flames to be part of the show and did not immediately react.

 “People were fainting, they were fainting from the smoke. It was total chaos, people were trampling on each other,” Victor Ionescu told Antena 3 TV

“In five seconds the whole ceiling was all on fire. In the next three we rushed to a single door,” a young woman who sustained minor injuries told the TV station

A witness quoted by Reuters said that the club was a converted former factory with two small exit door, only one of which was initially possible to open. The concert-goers reportedly had to break down the second door to escape.

The victims were admitted to 10 hospitals in Bucharest, and Raed Arafat, the head of emergency response at the interior ministry, said that the situation is slowly stabilizing.

“We have many people with burns, intoxicated with smoke and people squashed,” he said.

Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said he was shocked by the deaths.

 “It is a very sad day for all of us, for our nation and for me personally,” he said in a statement published online. “I am deeply grieved by the tragic events that happened this evening.

“I assure the families affected by this terrible event of the full support of those involved in the rescue operations and I ask them to trust that the responsible institutions are doing their best to limit the effects of the catastrophe. I urge you all to stand together by the grieving families and prove our solidarity and compassion.”

Prime Minister Victor Ponta said he was cutting short a visit to Mexico to return to Bucharest.