Colectiv fire commemoration 2 years after the deadly blaze. People march in Bucharest this evening, unsolved problems still haunt us

A commemoration march in the memory of the Colectiv fire’s victims is scheduled in Bucharest on Friday evening, as we approach the two-year commemoration of the deadly blaze that claimed 64 lives and left more than 140 injured.

The traffic will be temporarily closed on the route of the march, but it will be gradually resumed.

The march is due on Friday starting 6 p.m. The participants will gather in Unirii Park between 6 and 7 p.m. and they will go marching on the following route: I.C.Bratianu Blvd-Unirii Blvd-Serban Voda bridge-Splaiul Unirii-Bucur street-Bucur square.

So, depending on the number of participants, as of 8 p.m. until close to midnight, the traffic will be gradually restricted on Bucur street, Garle street, Verzisori street and on the streets that take to the Bucur square.

Named the “March of the Guitars”, the marching is a call not to forget the victims. People are called to lit a candle, bring their guitars and maybe play some suggestive songs, including some of the “Goodbye to Gravity” rock band, which lost four members in the fire. A flashmob is also scheduled.

Hyperbaric chamber for burnt still out of service. The hidden report

Meanwhile, the corruption and poor administration problems revealed by the Colectiv fire are still keeping in the headlines. For instance, the hyperbaric chamber at Floreasca Hospital that could have treated the burnt patients after the Colectiv blaze is still out of service. Commissioned with great fanfare in 2015 by the former Health minister SocDem Nicolae Banicioiu and the Floreasca ex-managers, the famous hyperbaric chamber worth several millions of euros has come into the limelight after the Colectiv fire, when the burnt patients dropped dead due to the improper conditions across Romanian hospitals that were lacking basic tools and equipment to treat such cases. The victims could have had a chance to leave if had been treated in the ward for burnt at Floreasca Hospital and in the hyperbaric chamber, as its main function is to treat people with serious burns on their body and it was the only device of this type in the entire country.

The chamber was not working in 2015, as it neither is now, two years later, because it lacks the operating permits.

Yet, two former manager of the hospital have been indicted in this case.

At the same time, according to a report conducted during Ciolos Government, the authorities proved to be higly disorganized two years ago in managing the rescue missions after the fire, with nosocomial infections and the denial to send patients abroad being mentioned. The current leadership of the Health Ministry denied the existence of such report. The document was made at the request of former technocrat Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu, who fired back at current minister Florian Bodog, telling him the report do exists at the ministry’s registration office recorded as file 9/3.01.2017.

Names of the band’s members who died in the Colectiv fire sent to Mars

The names of the Goodbye to Gravity’s members who died in the tragic Colectiv fire two years ago will be sent to Mars through the InSight NASA discovery mission to be launched in May 2018. InSight is a robotic Mars lander manufactured in the 2010s, which was originally planned for launch in March 2016.

When landing on Mars, the lander will have not only scientific tools on board, but also the names of millions of people.

One of the Goodbye to Gravity’s fans, Andreas Schönhofen from Germany, decided to add on the “boarding” list the names of the four band’s members who died in or after the fire: Alex Pascu, Mihai Alexandru, Vlad Ţelea and Bogdan Enache.

“In the memory of the four deceased members of <<Goodbye to Gravity>> band, I added their names up in the NASA InSight mission to Mars. Their names will be added on a microchip aboard the lander”, the fan said on his Facebook page, while arguing that the name of the Romanian band has a close connection with the outer space flights and astronomy.

So far, 230 countries have registered in the InSight mission, Romania ranking 34^th with over 8,000 names. The lander’s mission will investigate the Martian’s soil.