BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president on Tuesday laid a wreath to mark three years since a deadly nightclub fire in the capital Bucharest killed 64 people, and a march is planned to remember the victims and protest the slow pace of the trial.
President Klaus Iohannis laid the wreath outside the Colectiv nightclub, and religious services were held in the capital and elsewhere to remember those killed, even as family and friends of the mainly young victims denounce the lack of fire safely permits in some 280 nightclubs.
The families are angry that an ongoing trial hasn't yet prosecuted anyone for the Oct.30, 2015 fire, which erupted during a rock band's pyrotechnics show and injured some 190 people. Many also expressed anger over what they say are unhygienic conditions in hospitals that they claim contributed to some of the deaths.
Premier Viorica Dancila on Tuesday declined a reporter's request to send a message to the victims, but later issued a statement saying she held the young victims in her thoughts.
She said the tragedy "would make us ... see things honestly when they don't work as they should, and how we can make things right."
The government resigned days after the blaze after angry protesters complained that corruption had led to lax safety standards.
Disclaimer: This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Associated Press (AP) wire.
