Update: The main suspect was captured later on Tuesday after more than 10 hours of searching. He is reportedly from Vaslui and was found in a hotel in Bucharest. According to a Police spokesman quoted by Digi24, the man said he did not intend to injure anyone, but wanted "to cause damage to a fundamental institution of the Romanian state." He was detained for 24 hours.

Initial story: A security incident was reported at the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest on Tuesday, September 17, after a person threw gasoline and started a fire inside the visitors' access area, Digi24 reported. Rescue teams evacuated roughly 300 people from the building while the firefighters put out the fire. 

An employee inside the palace had a panic attack after allegedly being sprayed with fuel, and received medical care. She reportedly worked at the souvenir shop on the ground floor where the fire started.  

No one else was injured, and the Police are currently trying to identify the man who is believed to have left the building.

It's not yet clear how the suspect managed to enter the building with the flammable substance. However, the first security filter is inside the building and, according to initial information quoted by Euronews Romania, the man managed to start this fire in the area before the security filter.

The Bucharest Police said in a statement that "from the first investigations, it was established that, following a spontaneous conflict, a man, a visitor, allegedly threw a flammable substance" in the Palace of the Parliament. 

ISU Bucureşti-Ilfov said in the press release that they intervened to extinguish a fire in the palace's Constantin Brâncuşi Hall. "The fire occurred in a room for visitors, on an area of ​​30 square meters. Textile and office items burned. As a result of the event, no one was injured," reads the statement quoted by Digi24.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Robert Luca/Dreamstime.com)