BREAKING: Nightclub fire killed 26 people in Bucharest, Romania

A blast and subsequent fire have ripped through a Bucharest nightclub, killing at least 26 people and wounding dozens more, Romanian authorities have said.

The fire broke out on Saturday night at the Colectiv nighclub in the Romanian capital, with hundreds of people inside, local media reports said.

"There are 26 deaths so far," Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea told private television Antena 3 from the scene, where dozens of ambulances and firetrucks rushed to evacuate the injured.

Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat said the death toll may still climb at the club, which hosted a rock concert attended by up to 400.

"There was a stampede of people running out of the (Colectiv) club," a man who escaped without shoes told Reuters.