Death toll in Romanian nightclub inferno hits 29

Vadim Ghirda / Associated Press

A girl lights candles outside the compound that housed the nightclub where a fire occurred in the early morning in Bucharest, Romania.

Associated Press

Published Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015 | 5:52 p.m.

Updated Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015 | 7:32 a.m.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Two more people died Sunday of burns from a nightclub fire in Bucharest, a Romanian official said, raising the death toll in the horrific blaze to 29.

Forensic experts, meanwhile, began the first autopsies of victims on Sunday.

Raed Arafat, an emergency situations official, said the two had died in the hospital. They were among the 180 injured as they fled a fire and ended up in a panicked stampede Friday night toward the only door in the basement nightclub Colectiv in downtown Bucharest.

Doctors say over 140 people are still hospitalized around the Romanian capital, dozens of them in serious condition.

Witnesses say the fire erupted after a spark on stage from a heavy metal pyrotechnics show ignited foam decor.

Authorities are still collecting evidence from the scene.

On Saturday, the government decreed three days of mourning.