Romanian experts recreate the Colectiv club fire, as part of the criminal investigation
Experts from the National Institute of Research and Development for Mining Safety and Protection to Explosion (INSEMEX) will conduct a judicial experiment to determine the exact place where the fire started in Bucharest's Colectiv club, on October 30, and how it spread. The Colectiv club fire, one of the biggest tragedies in Romania in the last 25 years, has killed 62 people.
The experiment will take place on Wednesday, December 16, in a lab arranged to look like the club in the night of the incident, with the same type of soundproofing sponge placed on the pillars and the same furniture, judicial sources told local Mediafax. The experts will also use fireworks similar to those used in the club in that tragic night.
The experiment represents the final phase of INSEMEX Petrosani’s expertise in the criminal investigation that Romania's Supreme Court prosecutors opened after the fire on October 30. INSEMEX experts, prosecutors, police officers and firefighters will be present at the experiment.
The tragic event happened on October 30 in Colectiv club in Bucharest during a concert of Goodbye to Gravity rock band. It is believed that the fire started because of the band’s on-stage fireworks. The fire quickly spread from the pillar to the ceiling, both of them being covered with a type of soundproofing sponge.
Prosecutors say that the tragedy happened because the number of people inside the club exceeded the club’s legal limit, given that the location didn’t have several emergency exits. The fireworks lit inside the club started the tragic fire, as the club was covered in materials that could easily catch fire. According to the prosecutors, the fireworks used during the concert were destined for outdoor usage.
The prosecutors have been investigating the club's owners and the firm that set up the fireworks for the concert. Romania's anticorruption prosecutors have also opened an investigation on possible corruption offenses that may have led to the disaster.
27 people lost their lives in the night of the incident, but their number kept rising in the coming period, reaching 62 on December 15.
Who do Romanians blame for the tragedy at Colectiv club in Bucharest?
Emergency department bans the use of candles and torches in restaurants, clubs, theatres.
Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com
