Thousands march as Romania disco fire toll rises to 30

Thousands of people marched in central Bucharest on Sunday to honour the victims of a weekend disco fire as the death toll from the tragedy climbed to 30.

 Police said some 10,000 people marched from the city's emblematic University Square to the scene of the blaze, where many were already gathered before a sea of flowers and candles set out by mourners.

 Authorities said three more badly burned victims succumbed to their injuries on Sunday, bringing the death toll from the late Friday blaze to 30, adding that the toll could still rise "significantly".

 "I came to pay homage to those who died and to show my support for those who are fighting for their lives," one marcher in his early 30s, Gabriel Mistodie, told AFP.

 "It was a tragedy caused in a way by corruption, indifference and incompetence... and a sign that things should change in Romanian society."

Another marcher, who gave her name only as Oana, said they should have demonstrated "before, to say we would no longer go into such places because we aren't safe there."

 Romanian media on Sunday slammed as "irresponsible" both authorities and the owners of the Colectivu nightclub where the fire and subsequent stampede killed 27 on the spot and left nearly 200 injured.

 Some 140 were still in hospital on Sunday, with 35 in critical condition, according to state secretary for health Raed Arafat.

Caption:Thousands of people marched in central Bucharest on Sunday to honour the victims of a weekend disco fire

Photo Credit:www.timeslive.co.za

 Investigators say 29 of the injured have yet to be identified.

 President Klaus Iohannis had on Saturday pointed to safety failings at the nightclub, a former shoe factory.

 "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 said after visiting the scene. "We already have indications that the legal regulations had not been respected."

 The Evenimentul Zilei newspaper, under the headline "Coincidence, a curse or criminal negligence?", alleged that two other nightclubs belonging to one of the owners of the Colectivu club have also been destroyed by fire in recent years.

 An editorial in the daily Gandul accused authorities of failing to impose stricter safety regulations in bars and discos after similar deadly accidents.

 It blamed the disaster on "irresponsibility" and "unscrupulousness".

 The interior ministry said between 300 and 500 mostly young people had been in the disco.

 Witnesses said fireworks unleashed a blaze that was followed by a stampede as terrified clubbers scrambled to get out through only one exit and that there was no emergency exit.