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North Macedonia has declared a seven-day period of mourning after a fire in a nightclub that left at least 59 dead and scores injured, as authorities detained 15 people for questioning and the interior minister said a preliminary inspection revealed the club was operating without a proper licence.
At the end of a day in which the small Balkan country grappled with a disaster not seen in decades, its interior minister Panche Toshkovski said the club in the eastern town of Kočani where the pre-dawn blaze occurred appeared to be operating illegally.
“This company does not have a legal licence for work,” Toshkovski told reporters. “This licence, as many other things in Macedonia in the past, is connected with bribery and corruption,” he added without elaborating.
More than 20 people were under investigation, 15 of whom were in police custody, while others suspected of involvement were in hospital, he said.
Most of those killed by the blaze, which ripped through the Pulse nightclub during a hip-hop concert, were teenagers and young adults. About 155 were injured, many critically.
The nightclub premises had previously served as a warehouse in Kočani, a town about 60 miles (97km) east of the capital, Skopje.
The prime minister, Hristijan Mickoski, said the loss of so many young lives was “irreparable”. “All competent forces will do whatever is necessary to address the consequences and determine the causes of this tragedy,” he promised earlier on Sunday.
The fire, thought to have been triggered by the use of special-effects pyrotechnic devices, erupted at about 2.35am local time (1.35am GMT). Some of those taken to medical facilities were as young as 14. Pictures showed the club’s corrugated iron roof burnt through and collapsed in places, its interior wooden beams exposed and blackened.
Marija Taseva, 22, told Reuters: “When the fire broke out, everyone started screaming and shouting: ‘Get out, get out.’” As she tried to escape, Taseva fell to the ground and people trod on her, injuring her face. In the crush, she lost contact with her sister, who did not make it out. “My sister died,” Taseva said, breaking into tears.
“It’s hard to believe how this happened,” the country’s president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, told distraught parents gathered outside a hospital in the capital. “We must give these young people courage to continue.” Dressed in black and fighting tears, she said authorities were ready to do everything to help all those affected.
Medical officials said many people had suffered severe burns and carbon monoxide poisoning and that plans were under way to transport the critically wounded to specialised hospitals across Europe. Dr Kristina Serafimova, the head of Kočani general hospital, told reporters that at least 10 were on respirators and fighting for their lives. It was the biggest loss of life in the country of 1.8 million people since the early 1990s.
The rightwing nationalist-led government, which was returned to power last year, moved quickly to detain suspects.
Initial reports suggested about 1,500 clubgoers were crammed into the discotheque to watch the popular hip-hop band DNK – a number far exceeding the venue’s capacity. The club had only one exit and a dearth of fire extinguishers, according to local media outlets.
One young person who was attending the concert told local media: “The fire started around 2:30am. The sparklers that were on stage ignited the styrofoam on the ceiling. I heard an explosion and the roof collapsed. We all rushed to get out; we all ran towards one door that was for both entry and exit.”
Visiting the site early on Sunday, Toshkovski said the blaze was probably caused by pyrotechnic devices “used for lighting effects at the concert”. As they were set off, “the sparks caught the ceiling, which was made of easily flammable material, after which the fire rapidly spread across the whole discotheque, creating thick smoke”, he told reporters.
The government said it would immediately step up inspections of nightclubs and similar venues to ensure they complied with international safety regulations. “The most important thing is to find out all the facts and evidence necessary for the follow-up measures,” Toshkovski said. “We must remain calm while taking all these steps so that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
Images on social media showed chaotic scenes as the fire broke out and the band’s singer urged the audience to vacate the premises as quickly as possible. Serafimova attributed the deaths to the panic-stricken crush that ensued, as well as smoke inhalation and burns. Among the injured were musicians in the eight-member band, DNK’s manager said.
“In a country as small as ours, and with the death toll likely to rise, the impact has been huge,” Branko Gerovski, a veteran journalist in Skopje, told the Guardian. “We haven’t seen anything like this since the devastating air-crashes in Macedonia in 1993. Everyone feels very emotional. They can relate to this because everyone’s kids go to nightclubs.”
Neighbouring countries including Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania were quick to offer assistance. Senior European Union officials also expressed their condolences, while the Vatican said Pope Francis sent prayers to the victims and survivors of the fire.
