Fire disaster in Bucharest in 2015

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Location of the Club Colectiv in Bucharest

The fire disaster in Bucharest in 2015 occurred on October 30th in Strada Tăbăcarilor 7. A fire and mass panic in the Colectiv nightclub killed 64 people and injured 147, some seriously.

At the time of the fire, the metalcore band Goodbye to Gravity presented their new album in front of around 400 guests. The nightclub apparently used unapproved pyrotechnics for the stage program and did not meet the basic safety regulations.

Of the 64 victims, 28 died at the scene of the fire and 36 in clinics. As it turned out in the course of investigations months later, numerous victims had died not as a result of the fire, but of MRE germs in the hospital, as the leading Romanian pharmaceutical manufacturer had diluted the disinfectants used to the point of ineffectiveness.

Course of events and numbers of victims

According to eyewitness reports, fireworks from the stage show set a pillar on fire around 10:30 p.m., which a security guard tried to extinguish in vain. From there the fire spread to the ceiling and walls. Then there was a mass panic because initially only one of the two exits of the nightclub was passable. As a result of the smoke development, many guests came to cardiac arrest and respiratory arrest . Among the seriously injured was the singer Andrei Găluț from Goodbye to Gravity ; the two guitarists Vlad Țelea and Mihai Alexandru, as well as the drummer Bogdan Lavinius and the bassist Alex Pascu were killed in the fire. Among the victims were also the music producer and musician Adrian Rugină of the folk-rock band Bucium, the architect Cătălina Ioniță, the guitarist of the rock 'n' roll band Up to Eleven Laurențiu Vârlan, the picture editor at Televiziunea Română Marius Rușitoru and the blogger and photographer Claudiu Petre. At least 21 injured were flown to other European countries for treatment.

Reactions

Candles at Klub Colectiv in memory of the victims of the disaster

The Romanian emergency coordinator Raed Arafat spoke of the "worst tragedy of this kind" that had ever happened in Bucharest. President Klaus Iohannis wrote on Facebook that he was “shocked” and that it was “a very sad moment for our nation”. Prime Minister Victor Ponta broke off a trip to Mexico and returned to Bucharest. The government ordered a three-day state mourning. On November 4, Ponta announced his resignation as well as that of his cabinet after massive popular protests against the government in connection with the fire the previous evening. In Bucharest alone, around 25,000 mainly young demonstrators accused the politicians of having contributed to the tragedy through the corruption in Romania and its tolerance.

Investigations

The Bucharest Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into the organizers of the concert and the club owners for deliberate homicide. In addition, it should be checked whether an emergency and evacuation plan was in place. The main shareholder of the club is the Bucharest event manager Alin Anastasescu. According to media reports and initial investigations, the operators at the responsible district office had given the number of seats as 80 and received approval, but there were at least 300 people in the club at the concert. The club had neither a fire-proof lining for its highly flammable soundproofing nor a sprinkler system or a permit for pyrotechnics. The only entrance and exit was only 80 centimeters wide. The obvious deficiencies had not led to its closure after repeated checks on the club. The last police check took place just a few days before the fire.

2016 pharmaceutical scandal over diluted disinfectants

After a noticeably high number of fire victims died of multi-resistant germs , the research of a working group of investigative reporters focused on the hospital environment. They discovered that the Hexi-Pharma Group , the Romanian leader in sanitary hygiene, had been diluting its disinfectants for years in order to increase profit margins. The company was involved in a similar scandal in 2006.

In April 2016, the reporter group made the results of their research public. At least 13 patients from the collective fire have been shown to have died of MDROs. The reason for this was that the active ingredient concentrations in the disinfectants used were too low. The product Hexio-Skin contained less than 0.01 percent isopropanol instead of the 25 percent stated on the packaging, and Hexio-Sept AF only contained five percent instead of 15 percent of ammonium chloride .

As it turned out, the Romanian domestic intelligence service SRI had tracked the fraud at Hexi-Pharma back in 2012 and had informed the authorities of the case without them taking any action.

On May 6, around 500 people protested against corruption in the healthcare system in Bucharest. In the midst of the scandal, the Romanian Health Minister Patriciu Achimaș-Cadariu resigned from his office on May 8, 2016 .

On May 22, 2016, the owner of Hexi-Pharma , Dan Condrea, died in a car accident near Buftea . Witnesses reported that the car went off the road and hit a tree, with no skid marks. Weeks later, the accident investigators came to the conclusion that it had been Condrea's suicide.

process

On December 16, 2019, the three former owners of the club and 10 other people were sentenced to several years in prison. The court saw it as proven that fire protection regulations - partly due to corruption - were not complied with. The owner of the fireworks company received the highest sentence at twelve years and eight months. The three former owners of the club were each sentenced to eleven years and eight months in prison. The then mayor of the district, Cristian Popescu, was sentenced to eight and a half years imprisonment for abuse of office in granting the operating license for the club. For the same reason, three other town hall officials and two fire brigade employees were sentenced to three, five, seven, eight and nine years and two months in prison. A co-owner of the fireworks company and two employees were also sentenced to prison terms.

See also

Web links

Commons : Bucharest Fire Disaster 2015  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Şase răniţi în incendiul din Colectiv vor face recuperare la Spitalul Militar din Capitală (Romanian) . January 14, 2016. 
  2. ^ Cine este Radu Sienerth, cea de-a 64-a victimă din Colectiv. In: Gandul.info. Retrieved April 26, 2016 (ro-RO).
  3. ↑ a b c Keno Verseck : Fire disaster in Bucharest: Public prosecutor's office investigates because of intentional homicide. In: Spiegel Online from October 31, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  4. ↑ Discotheque had security deficiencies . In: n-tv . Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  5. ↑ 27 dead after explosion in Bucharest disco . In: Rheinische Post . Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ a b Many dead from fire in night club. In: The time . Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  7. ↑ Mihai Alexandru, chitarist al formaţiei Goodbye to Gravity, a murit (Romanian) . In: mediafax.ro , October 31, 2015. 
  8. ↑ GOODBYE TO GRAVITY Drummer Dies. Death Toll From Bucharest Nightclub Fire Now At 45.blabbermouth.net, November 8, 2015, accessed November 8, 2015 .
  9. ↑ INCENDIUL din colectiv - Alexandru Pascu, basistul trupei Goodbye to Gravity, a murit. Bilanţul tragediei ajuns la 51 de decese (Romanian) . In: mediafax.ro , November 11, 2015. 
  10. ↑ Cea mai mare tragedie românească din ultimii 15 ani. O sinteză (Romanian) . In: PressOne.ro , October 31, 2015. 
  11. ↑ Bucharest nightclub fire: death toll reaches 45 as drummer of band dies in: The Guardian, November 8, 2015, accessed on November 9, 2015
  12. ↑ 27 dead and 180 injured in explosion in Bucharest Club . In: Focus Online . Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  13. ^ Accident in Romania. 27 dead in fire in Bucharest nightclub. In: Focus from October 31, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015
  14. ↑ Response to fire disaster: Romania's government resigns , Spiegel Online , November 4, 2015
  15. ^ Karl-Peter Schwarz: Resignation in Romania. When corruption kills. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from November 4, 2015. Accessed November 6, 2015
  16. ↑ a b 25,000 protested after the club fire in Bucharest. In: Der Standard vom November 4, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  17. ↑ http://www.tolo.ro/2016/04/26/ei-produc-ei-se-controleaza-si-ministerul-sanatatii-se-face-ca-nu-le-gaseste-sediul/
  18. ↑ a b c Keno Verseck: Romania: Scandal about diluted disinfectants. In: Spiegel Online . July 4, 2016, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  19. ^ Romania's health minister resigns over disinfectant dispute . Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  20. ↑ DS: Protagonistul documentarului "Reteaua", Vlad Voiculescu, noul Ministru al Sanatatii . Hotnews.ro. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  21. ↑ https://www.dcnews.ro/patronul-hexi-pharma-mort-intr-un-accident-rutier_506248.html
  22. ↑ http://business-review.eu/news/general-prosecutors-office-hexi-pharmas-dan-condrea-committed-suicide-113212
  23. ↑ beck.de: Bucharest: Court imposes prison sentences for 13 Romanians after devastating fire in nightclub, from December 18, 2019, accessed on December 20, 2019

Coordinates: 44 ° 25 ′ 16.1 ″  N , 26 ° 6 ′ 28.7 ″  E