According to the first reports on Sunday night, 59 people were killed in a fire in a night club in Northern Macedonia and about 155 others were injured, several of them seriously. The numbers were confirmed by the Macedonian Ministry of the Interior.
The fire broke out during the concert of the group “DNK” nationwide in northern Macedonia in a discotheque in the small town of Kočani in the east of the country. According to the Macedonian Minister of the Interior, the improper handling of fireworks in the club fully occupied with 1500 guests is the cause of the fire. Some club guests are said to have ignited fireworks during the concert through which the roof of the establishment caught fire. The arrest of a person was reported without further information.
It was initially unclear whether fire protection regulations and orders for emergency outputs were not met. The survivor describes the entrance area of the discotheque on Sunday as “very small”. Reports from which the club had only received a license due to political connections could initially be confirmed on Sunday.
“Heavy and very sad day for Macedonia”
North Macedonia's conservative Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said a planned trip abroad. The head of government wrote on platform X of a “terrible tragedy” and a “difficult and very sad day for Macedonia: the loss of so many young life is irreplaceable, and the pain of families, relatives and friends is immeasurable.” His government is “fully mobilized” and will do everything necessary to “clarify the causes of this tragedy.” Mickoski announced that he would have the responsible institutions informed about the situation in order to come to the public with further information on the incident during the day. He called on his compatriots to “unity, cohesion, humanity and responsibility”.
Meanwhile, the city of Kočani reported in the morning after the accident that parents were still looking for their missing children or that they were unclear about their condition. Relatives gathered in front of the town hall and the city hospital to get more information. The head of the local hospital said that the death victims that had previously been identified were between 14 and 25 years old. It remained unclear whether it was people who were still brought to the hospital alive and only succumbed to their injuries there.
Macedonian media quoted a victim's brother who described the local hospital as a place of horror: “I was on site in the hospital, it was terrible. The patients lie on the hospital corridors, you have to climb over corpses to see how your own relatives are doing. ” The family was able to see his sister briefly, but then it was told that the patient had to be moved to a hospital in the capital due to her serious injuries.
Other injuries had already been brought to the Macedonian capital Skopje and the East Macedonian regional center ŠTIP during the night for better care in the Macedonian capital Skopje. In ŠTIP, 38 patients with second -degree burns were recorded on their face and on the hands, the director of the clinic there said.
The Macedonian Ministry of Health set up an emergency number for relatives. The State Macedonian news agency Mia reported more than 150 fire victims who are being treated in various hospitals. Of these, 18 were in critical condition. A member of the band is also to be treated in a hospital.
