Many of 27 dead in club fire in Bucharest still unidentified

Survivors of a fire that occurred in a club in Bucharest, are led away from the scene wrapped in a thermal blanket early Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. A heavy metal band’s pyrotechnical show sparked a deadly fire Friday at a Bucharest nightclub, killing more than 20 people and injuring scores of the club’s mostly youthful patrons, officials and witnesses said. AP

BUCHAREST, Romania — Officials said most of the 27 people who died when a heavy metal band’s pyrotechnical show sparked a deadly fire at a Bucharest nightclub have not been identified.

Raed Arafat, an emergency situations official, said Saturday said that 17 of the dead have not been identified. TV stations posted a number for people to call to find out about the tragedy, the deadliest in the country’s history.

READ: Interior minister: 27 dead in club explosion in Bucharest

The deflagration killed 27 people and injured scores of the club’s mostly youthful patrons. Some 146 remain hospitalized across the capital.

Arafat says the death toll could climb from the fire that ripped through a club, located in a basement in a building in downtown Bucharest, a city of 3 million people.

The government will meet later and propose three days of mourning.