How is widespread corruption in Romania linked to a tragic explosion at a fuel station?

The blast in Romania at a fuel station killed two people

Two people died and 57 were injured after two massive explosions at an LPG fuel station in the town of Crevedia, southern Romania, last week.

Tragically, many of the injured were firefighters who rushed to extinguish the blaze. The fire broke out after the first explosion occurred, with the firefighters then caught up in a secondary blast.

Many of those hurt are still being treated for severe injuries, with some airlifted to specialist burns units abroad.

An aerial view shows the site of the explosion and fire of an LPG gas station in Crevedia village, near Bucharest, southern Romania. Picture: Getty Images

Yet, while they fight for their lives, the political fallout of the accident is raging within Romania. It emerged soon after the blast the owner of the petrol station, Ionut Doldurea, was operating without a licence. He happens to be the son of the mayor of another town in the south of Romania, who stepped down days after the accident.

In an inspection carried out three years before the disaster, the Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations found numerous irregularities relating to the site and issued fines totalling 50,000 lei (£8,000). A few days later, the company notified the authorities it had closed down the petrol station.

Ion Doldurea, the father of Mr Doldurea junior, resigned his position amid criticism of comments made immediately after the incident, when he said the fact firefighters had been injured while trying to extinguish the blaze “is their problem”.

However, claims have been made that his position in politics – despite his role in a small town, he was believed to be close to senior figures in the PSD party, part of a ruling coalition government in Bucharest – could have played a role in a blind eye being turned to his son’s illegal business.

Calls have also been made for the resignation of the mayor of Crevedia itself, who has insisted he knew nothing of the operations of the business, despite the commune – a collection of five small villages – having a population of just 6,000.

Romania, like many former Communist nations, is a country where family, personal and business connections can often be blurred in a way that is less common in Western Europe.

The petrol station tragedy comes eight years after a fire in a nightclub in Bucharest killed dozens of young people, sparking widespread protests against corruption. An investigation later found the club did not have a licence for the number of people it held – and had used flammable cladding in some interior construction work. Corruption in the health service also contributed directly to the deaths of many of the injured through the sale of diluted disinfectant.

The 2019 documentary of the same name as the nightclub – Collectiv – uncovered the disinfectant scandal and also chartered futile attempts by a new, reformist health minister to turn the situation around.

Romania itself has improved its corruption rating dramatically in recent years, with reform fuelled by its 2007 accession into the European Union. It is also by no means the worst European nation, ranking far higher than the likes of Ukraine, Bulgaria and Hungary in Transparency International’s most recent Corruption Perceptions Index.

It may be investigations find no connection between the blast and family connections. Yet the fact the question has to be asked is something that needs to be tackled.