Despite the gloomy weather, 2,000 people spent Easter at the seaside. The ambulance services were swamped by calls from people who overate or abused alcohol.
Most Romanians spent Easter with their families and they went to church to get the holy light, hoping it will protect them for the entire year. The weather on Easter weekend was rainy all over the country. In some areas it rained so much that floods and landslides occurred. A massive landslide took place in Vrancea County and Transfagarasan (between Sibiu and Balea waterfall), ruining the Easter celebration for the people there. About 6,000 people in Nereju and Spulber villages, both in Vrancea County, were isolated after the main road collapsed. Prefect’s office in Vrancea sent a commission to evaluate the situation and the cost of the damages. The county road is under the administration of Vrancea County Council led by Marian Oprisan (PSD). The rehabilitation works are done by the company UMB Spedition SA, owned by one of the “asphalt kings” in Romania and businessman Daniel Umbrarescu. Other landslides took place yesterday in Buzau County because of the abundant rain. Also, a truck loaded with over 40 tons of chocolate turned upside down yesterday in Hunedoara county after a landslide caused by the rainy weather took place. On the other hand, over 2,000 Romanians spent Easter at the seaside, slightly lower than in the previous years. Some 6,000 Romanians went this year for Easter to our Bulgarian neighbours. This statistic seems not to bother the Romanian hotel owners who hope to score bigger number of tourists on May 1st break. A large number of Romanians chose to spend Easter at the mountains. 15,000 tourists went to the local mountains resorts such as Azuga, Busteni and Sinaia. Same as each year, Sinaia was the most wanted mountain resort to spend Easter, at the same time having the lowest prices. Some Romanians spent the holiday in hospital: the Ambulance Service in Bucharest (SABI) registered this weekend 2.318 cases, out of which 1,400 were serious, the majority being for digestive problems, comas – mainly alcoholic, traumatisms, and also unsuccessful suicide attempts and 20 births. A special case was the one of a two-years-old child in Vaslui who was brought to the hospital in hypothermia and alcoholic coma. SABI manager, Doctor Alis Grasu, stated on Monday that the number of ambulance calls was similar to the ones registered in the previous years, even lower with 3 percent, but on Monday morning the calls have multiplied. Four persons were injured on Monday in Suceava County, after two cars have crushed in Darmanesti. In Calarasi two persons died and other two were injured after the car they were in hit a tree. A six years –old little girl died in an accident in Alba county, after the car she was in crushed another one. Her mother is in the hospital being severely injured. Other two persons died in an accident on DN 79 Arad-Oradea. In Arges County, two kids were injured in an accident, being brought to Bagdasar-Arseni Hospital in Bucharest. According to the Police, between April 13 and 15, at national level there were 92 accidents with 18 dead and 88 injured. The Police reported as well an increased number of infringements of the law: 937, 86 more compared to 2011.
Holy light was brought from Jerusalem
The holy light from the Holy Tomb in Jerusalem was brought to Bucharest on Saturday at 20.30 with a special jet by the higher prelate of the Orthodox Church Varsanufie Prahoveanul. The holy light was offered at midnight by the Patriarch Daniel at the patriarchal Cathedral. Transylvania Metropolitan Bishop Laurentiu Streza had, for Easter, a tough message for believers saying “the husband or the wife stick with their hearts to their idols on TV and the divorce and the adultery are now the fashion to which everyone subscribes.”Politicians went to church, spent time with their families and cooked traditional foodThe politicians said that on Easter they usually go to church, they spend time with their families and cook traditional food, though some of them, such as Theodor Paleologu, admit they want to lose weight. The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberta Anastase, said she was going to spend the first day of Easter in Prahova County and the second day she was going to spend it with her family. The PDL candidate for Bucharest City Hall, Silviu Prigoana, said he will do on Easter “what each Christian is doing – repenting of sins on their knees”. He admitted he has many sins, because he is not living “in a flower pot”.
