On October 30,
\n2015, during a concert given by the heavy metal band Goodbye to Gravity at the
\nColectiv night club in Bucharest, a fireworks show ignited the flammable foam
\ncovering the ceiling and the pillars of the overcrowded hall. 64 people died to
\nburns or to a deadly mix of smoke and dust. Two years later the death toll rose
\nto 65, after one of the survivors committed suicide, suffering from
\npsychological trauma. In the autumn of 2015, at the end of three days of
\nnational mourning to commemorate the victims, tens of thousands of Romanians
\ntook to the streets, staging a vehement protest against the authorities’
\nineptitude. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Under the slogan Corruption kills!, the protest at the time led
\nto the demise of the Ponta Cabinet and other officials in the local
\nadministration who had authorized the functioning of the night club, although
\nit did not meet the legal safety requirements. Meanwhile, survivors and the
\nfamilies of the victims are still waiting to see justice served. No sentence
\nhas yet been passed in the court case opened against the club’s owners. Last
\nweek, the then Health Minister Nicolae Banicioiu did not appear before the
\nProsecutor’s Office, where he was supposed to bear testimony regarding the
\nauthorities’ intervention at the time. Shortly after the Colectiv tragedy,
\nBanicioiu said the Romanian authorities don’t need any external help to treat
\nthe wounded, arguing our doctors can perfectly deal with any situation. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Subsequently, the Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into aggravated
\nmanslaughter, abuse of office and actionable negligence. Prosecutors are
\ninvestigating medical assistance to victims, circumstances linked to possible
\nhospital-acquired infections as well as the actions or lack of action of public
\nworkers linked to the transfer of the victims abroad. Also last week, a civic
\naction group in Iasi filed a criminal complaint against the Department for
\nEmergency Situations, led since 2007 by State Secretary Raed Arafat. The
\nplaintiffs argue the Department has withheld important videos of the fire
\ndepartment’s intervention at Colectiv. We all knew how chaotic the
\nintervention was. From the very beginning we suspected the rescuers’ lack of
\nprofessionalism and empathy, and the video evidence have confirmed our
\nsuspicions, civic militants argue. This follows last week’s publication of a
\n20-min video by the daily Libertatea, showing the intervention of the
\nDepartment for Emergency Situations units that arrived on scene. State
\nSecretary Arafat claims he had no knowledge of this video and he will only
\nresign if the Prime Minister demands it. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by
\nV. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bucharest commemorates 4 years since the Colectiv tragedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":83473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[34157,39793,30518],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-83472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-colectiv-tragedy","tag-libertatea-video","tag-raed-arafat"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n