Death toll from Romanian nightclub fire keeps rising

Protests have been held in Romania as the death toll rises from the nightclub fire.

Three more victims of the nightclub fire have died, bringing the total death toll from the blaze to 44.

The government resigned last week after thousands of protesters took to the streets to express their anger at the government, which many regard as corrupt.

The demonstrations have continued, with more protests held this weekend.

The fire at the Colectiv nightclub left 109 other people in hospital, 48 of them in a serious or critical condition.

The medical director of the state burns hospital, Cristian Nitescu said a man died late on Saturday.

Mediafax news agency reported two other patients died early on Sunday, including a Turkish man studying in Romania, and a woman who worked at the club's bar.

The death toll from a nightclub fire in Romania is now 32 and could rise further, officials say.

Some 130 people remain in hospital, of whom 90 are in a critical or serious condition, medical authorities said.

A spark during a pyrotechnics show is believed to have ignited foam in the Colectiv basement club in Bucharest during a heavy metal gig last Friday.

A local journalist told ITV News the club only had two exits for panicked concert goers to escape the flames.

Romanian officials say the number of deaths in a Bucharest nightclub fire could rise "significantly" according to The Associated Press.

Forensic experts have begun carrying out autopsies of the victims of a fire and stampede in a Romanian nightclub which killed 27 people and injured 180.

Romania's government declared three days of national mourning on Saturday after the incident at the Colectiv Club in Bucharest.

Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat said 17 of the 27 dead had yet to be identified and 146 people remained in hospital. He said no fire permit was requested by the club nor granted to them by the Bucharest firefighting department.

"Unfortunately, the death toll may change taking into account the severity of their injuries," Arafat said after an emergency meeting early on Saturday.

Prime Minister Victor Pontaordered checks on clubs across the country to see whether safety and fire standards are being observed.

The Romanian nightclub where 27 people died in an explosion during a rock concert last night "only had two exits", according to a local journalist who has been to the venue.

Sorin Bogdan told ITV News that when a pillar and part of the club's ceiling went up in flames panicked concert goers would have been trying to escape "where only a small exit existed."

Police and medical crews rushed to the scene following a blast at a nightclub in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

TV footage showed police officers and paramedics trying to resuscitate young people lying on the pavement, while sirens wailed as more ambulances deployed to the scene.

Reuters reported a witness as saying there had been fireworks inside the club and that a pillar and the club ceiling caught fire before the explosion occurred.

Twenty five clubbers are dead in a Bucharest nightclub blast and at least 88 people have been admitted to hospital, government officials said.

"There are 25 deaths so far," Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea told private television Antena 3 from the scene, where dozens of ambulances and firetrucks rushed to evacuate the injured.

The explosion was reportedly caused by a firework, according to local media.

Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat said the death toll may still climb at the club, called Colectiv, which hosted a rock concert attended by up to 400 clubbers.

"There was a stampede of people running out of the club," a man who escaped without shoes told Reuters.

At least 18 people were killed in a blast in a Bucharest nightclub, a government spokesman has confirmed.

Dozens are also believed to be injured in the explosion, which was reportedly caused by a firework.

A witness told local station Realitatea TV one of the fireworks exploded and burned scaffolding that supported the pyrotechnic material.

The scaffolding fell on people who were inside the club and victims claimed the ceiling collapsed.

Victims have reportedly suffered severe burns and others were being resuscitated on the pavement outside of the venue.