A massive fire broke out early on Sunday in the nightclub, killing 59 people and injuring about 150 more, authorities said.
ADVERTISEMENTA massive fire tore through Club Pulse nightclub in the eastern town of Kočani early on Sunday, killing 59 people and injuring 155, authorities said.
The blaze broke out around 2:30 am during a concert by a local pop group at the club, Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski told reporters. He said 39 of the dead had so far been identified.
Pyrotechnics likely caused the roof to catch fire, Toshkovski added. Videos showed chaos inside the club, with young people running through the smoke as the musicians urged people to escape as quickly as possible.
The club oversold the tickets for the concert, with some 500 people in attendance — twice the maximum allowed capacity of the venue.
Kočani TV station reported that fire crews came from nearby cities to tackle it and posted video of fire crews at the nightclub.
As relatives gathered outside hospitals to await news, Kočani resident Dragi Stojanov was informed that his 21-year-old son Tomche had died in the fire.
“He was my only child. I don’t need my life anymore,” he said. “One hundred and fifty families have been devastated.”
Officials said the injured have been taken to hospitals around the country, including the capital, Skopje, many with severe burns. The effort was being assisted by multiple volunteer organisations.
Health Minister Arben Taravari said 118 people have been hospitalised, adding that he had received offers of assistance from neighboring countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia.
“All our capabilities have been put to use, in a maximum effort to save as many lives as possible of the young people involved in this tragedy,” Taravari told reporters, at times looking visibly shaken.
This is the worst tragedy in recent memory to befall the landlocked nation of some 1.8 million.
President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova visited burn victims at a hospital in Skopje and spoke to parents waiting outside the building.
“It's terrible ... hard to believe how this happened,” she said, her voice halting with emotion. “We must give these young people courage to continue.”
In an online post, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote: "This is a difficult and very sad day for (North) Macedonia. The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable.”
Family members gathered in front of the hospital and city offices in Kočani, a town of nearly 25,000 some 115 kilometres east of Skopje, asking authorities for more information.
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The club was in an old building that was previously a carpet warehouse and has been running for several years, according to local media MKD.
The fire caused the roof of the single-story building to partially collapse, revealing the charred remains of wooden beams and debris. Police cordoned off the site and sent in evidence-gathering teams in an operation also involving state prosecutors.
A state prosecutor, Ljupcho Kocevski, said several people were being questioned by police but gave no further details and stressed that the cause of the blaze was still being investigated.
Interior ministry officials said authorities would investigate the venue’s licensing and safety provisions, adding that the government had a “moral responsibility” to help prosecute anyone responsible. Police have arrested one man already, but he didn't provide details on the person's involvement.
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As they awoke to news of the overnight tragedy, the country’s immediate neighbors and leaders from further afield in Europe sent condolences.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas posted on X that she was “deeply saddened” and said the 27-nation bloc “shares the grief and pain of the people of North Macedonia.” North Macedonia is a candidate for EU membership.
Condolences also poured in from politicians across the region, including Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I wish those who were injured a speedy recovery. Ukraine mourns alongside our (North) Macedonian friends on this sad day,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
ADVERTISEMENTOne of Europe's worst nightclub fires in recent years
The fire in Kočani is one of the worst blazes in European nightclubs in recent years. In Turkey, a fire in the Masquerade nightclub in Istanbul in April 2024 trapped workers and employees while the venue was closed for renovations. It killed 29 people.
In October 2023, a blaze that started at a nightclub in the city of Murcia and spread to two other clubs left 13 people dead.
A blaze that broke out during a rock band's pyrotechnics display at the Colectiv nightclub in the capital Bucharest in October 2015 killed 64 people and left some 190 injured.
The worst nightclub fire took place in Russia in December 2009. Some 152 people died when a blaze broke out at the Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm. It started when an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches.
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