10 years on from the Colectiv tragedy
On October 30th Romania commemorated 10 years since the tragedy of the Colectiv nightclub, an event, which profoundly marked the entire society
Corina Cristea, 31.10.2025, 14:00
The victims of the blaze that ripped through the Colectiv night club in Bucharest were being commemorated in Romania’s capital city and other cities around the country ten years on from the tragedy which caused the death of 65 people while 140 others were admitted to hospitals in Romania and abroad.
The fire, which started during the concert given by a band called Goodbye to Gravity, was caused by pyrotechnics illegally placed in a club, which was housing 500 people high above its capacity.
People participated in a march linking the disaster’s location and the emblematic University Square in Bucharest. The participants called for justice for the victims and denounced the issues Romania’s healthcare system is presently facing. The lack of facilities for burned people has also been mentioned as one of these issues. The city of Constanta in south-eastern Romania also saw a commemorative march and civic protest dedicated to the memory of the young people who died during the tragedy at the Colectiv nightclub as well as for those who are still battling the effects of the tragedy.
“Ten years on from Colectiv, the Romanian society is still waiting: for the justice files to be completed and the culprits to be punished; for real reforms in the healthcare and public safety systems aimed at eliminating the infections which are still making victims in the country’s hospitals; safe hospitals, new hospitals with proper facilities for severely-burned patients’ the organizers said.
“10 years have passed. Ten years of pain, shame and helplessness. 10 years since the country’s medical system was shaken to its core. I promise I didn’t forget it and that Romania will be able to treat the severely burned patients in modern hospitals built with care and dignity,” Romania’s Health Minister, Alexandru Rogobete, wrote on a social network. He added that three special centers for severely burned people are under construction in Romania, and the one in Timisoara is going to be finalized this year.
The country’s Prime Minister, party leaders and embassies in Bucharest have conveyed messages of condolences and solidarity with the victims and their families. The country’s President, Nicuşor Dan, has laid a wreath of flowers at the monument built to the victims’ memory. In a message on this occasion, the President says the tragedy has changed Romania forever and recalls that 65 young people lost their lives and many are still wearing the scars of that night on their bodies and souls.”
Nicuşor Dan also says that 10 years have passed since that tragedy when a generation loudly said that corruption and indifference kill and pledges without fulfillment are actually complicity. Andrei Găluţ, the front man of Goodbye to Gravity and its only survivor together with 10 other surviving musicians have launched a charity project which pays homage to the victims of the tragedies that have marked Romania in the past decade. The project comprises the unplugged and re-orchestrated video recording of two of the band’s emblematic songs, “The Day Will Die” and “The Cage”. All the money made by the aforementioned video is going to become donations.
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