At least 26 people have lost their lives after an fire and an explosion in a disco club in Bucharest, Romania.

Another 145 have been taken to hospital, Agerpres agency quotes the head of the Interior Ministry's emergency situations department, Raed Arafat, as saying.

The agency attributes the fire to "pyrotechnic effects" during a live performance of the band Goodbye to Gravity.

Between 300 and 400 people were attending the event when a fire broke out before the band's concert. 11 fire-fighter units, 29 ambulance units, and two from intensive care arrived at the scene of the incident, with emergency medial teams trying to save some of the victims' lives.

Al Jazeera quotes a Romanian journalist as saying "many of the people involved weere foreigners who did not speak Romanian."