North Macedonia Nightclub Fire: 59 Dead, Investigations Underway

At least 59 people have been killed and more than 155 injured in a nightclub fire in North Macedonia, officials say.

The blaze broke out around 02:30 (01:30 GMT) at the Pulse club in Kocani, a town around 100km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje, where 500 people were thought to be attending a concert by DNK, a popular hip-hop duo in the country.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski called it a “difficult and very sad day” for the country, which had lost many “young lives”.

Police have blocked access to the nightclub as investigations are under way. In an update on Sunday afternoon, Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said the club did not have a legal licence to operate.

Authorities are investigating allegations of corruption and bribery linked to the fire, Toskovski told reporters.

More than 20 of the injured and three of those killed were aged under 18, the minister said.

Earlier estimates put the number of attendees at 1,500, but officials have since revised that figure down.

The venue has been described as an “improvised nightclub” in the local press, having previously been a carpet warehouse.

When the fire occurred, it had been staging a concert for DNK – a band formed in 2002, which has topped the North Macedonian charts over the past decade.

Citing initial reports, Toskovski said the fire had been started by sparks from pyrotechnic devices that had hit the ceiling, which was made of highly flammable material.

Footage shows the band playing on stage when two flares go off, after which sparks then catch fire on the ceiling before spreading rapidly.

Video verified by the BBC shows people trying to extinguish the flames on the ceiling. The footage shows the club was still full and some people appeared to be watching efforts to put out the fire rather than leaving.

Reports suggest there was only a single entry and exit point to the improvised nightclub, which caused panic.

Marija Taseva, 20, told Channel 5 TV she was caught in a crush at the club as people rushed for the exits. She recalled falling to the ground and being trampled during the chaos before managing to get out.

“I don’t know how, but somehow I managed to get out,” she told the Reuters news agency. “I’m fine now, but there are many dead.”

She added that her 25-year-old sister – who her family had previously been searching for – had died, saying: “I was saved and she wasn’t.”