Summary of what we know so far…
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Arrest warrants have been issued for four people in connection with the nightclub fire in North Macedonia that killed at least 59 people and injured about 155 others.
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The interior minister said police had arrested one man, but did not provide details about his involvement.
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The blaze began at around 02.35am (01.35 GMT) on Sunday morning during a concert at the Pulse nightclub in Kočani, a town around 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje.
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Initial reports suggest as many as 1,500 people – mostly young – attended the concert by DNK, a hip-hop duo popular in the country.
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The interior minister said some of the young clubgoers used pyrotechnics that caused the roof to catch fire.
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North Macedonia’s MRT public broadcaster reported that 27 people were hospitalized at the Skopje city hospital with severe burns, and another 23 were being treated at the clinical centre. Children were also reported to be among the injured.
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Prime Minister Hristijan Mickosk expressed “deep sadness” about the “tragedy” of the nightclub fire, saying the loss of so many young lives is “irreparable”.
Key events
Closing summary
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Arrest warrants have been issued for four people in connection with the nightclub fire in North Macedonia that killed at least 59 people and injured about 155 others.
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Officials estimate that 18 of the injured people are in critical condition. Some of the more serious cases are to be taken to hospitals in other European countries.
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Children are reported to be among the injured.
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The interior minister said police had arrested one man in connection with the fire, but did not provide details about his involvement.
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The blaze began at around 02.35am (01.35 GMT) on Sunday morning during a concert at the Pulse nightclub in Kočani, a town around 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje.
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Initial reports suggest as many as 1,500 people – mostly young – attended the concert by DNK, a hip-hop duo popular in the country.
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The interior minister said some of the young clubgoers used pyrotechnics devices that caused the roof to catch fire. 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,” Pance Toskovski said.
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Prime Minister Hristijan Mickosk expressed “deep sadness” about the “tragedy” of the nightclub fire, saying the loss of so many young lives is “irreparable”.
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The North Macedonian government is reportedly set to declare seven days of national mourning. It has also said it will step up inspections of nightclubs and other similar venues to ensure that they comply with internationally regulated safety standards.
You can read more about the nightclub fire in this report by my colleague Helena Smith. We are now closing this blog. Thanks for following along.
North Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova visited victims at a hospital in the capital Skopje and spoke to parents waiting outside.
“It’s terrible … hard to believe how this happened,” she was quoted as saying. “We must give these young people courage to continue.”
Officials said earlier that 155 injured people had been taken to hospitals across the country, 18 of them in critical condition. Some of the more serious cases were to be taken to hospitals in other European countries.
As a reminder, more than 1,500 people, mostly young, were attending the hip hop concert in Kočani when the fire broke out this morning.
‘I don’t need my life anymore,’ father says after his only child is killed in nightclub fire
Relatives of the victims of the fire have been gathering in front of hospitals and city offices in Kočani throughout the day, desperately asking authorities for more information.
Local resident Dragi Stojanov was informed that his 21-year-old son Tomce was among the 59 people who had died in the fire.
“He was my only child. I don’t need my life anymore… 150 families have been devastated,” he said. “Children burnt beyond recognition. There are corpses, just corpses inside (the club).”
A woman who was in the nightclub when the fire started in the early hours of the morning has told of her escape from the chaos.
“The fire broke out suddenly and everyone started running for the exit,” the unnamed survivor said.
“There were charred bodies. I don’t know… everyone is stressed. My sister is missing, we were unable to find her in the hospitals, so now we’re waiting here, to find out if she’s here.”
Kočani’s hospital director said earlier that staff had found it difficult to identify some patients because of a lack of ID cards.
“The fire started around 2:30 am (0130 GMT), the sparklers that were on stage ignited the styrofoam on the ceiling. I heard an explosion and the roof collapsed,” one young person who was inside for the concert told local media.
“We all rushed to get out, we all ran towards one door that was for both entry and exit,” they were quoted as saying.
Pyrotechnics have often been the cause of deadly fires in nightclubs, including the one at the Colectiv club in Bucharest, Romania, in 2015 in which 64 people died.
Officials said the fire in the Pulse nightclub in Kočani this morning had been started by sparks from pyrotechnic devices that hit the ceiling, which was made of highly flammable material.
Here is a look at some other nightclub and music venue fires that have led to significant death tolls:
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January 2022: A blaze at Liv’s Nightclub Yaouba in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, set off explosions that killed 17 people. The government suggested that fireworks set the roof alight and the fire then spread to areas where cooking gas was stored.
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October 2015: A blaze that broke out during a rock brand’s pyrotechnics display at the Colectiv nightclub in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, killed 64 people and left about 190 injured.
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December 2009: An estimated 152 people died when a blaze broke out at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia. It started when an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches.
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January 2009: An indoor fireworks display after a New Year’s countdown ignited a blaze in the Santika club in Bangkok, Thailand, killing 67 people and injuring many more. Victims died from burns, smoke inhalation and from being crushed.
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September 2008: A fire killed 44 people at the jammed King of Dancers nightclub in Shenzhen, China when a stamped broke out after a fireworks show ignited the ceiling.
One of the owners of Pulse nightclub is among those detained by authorities after fire
Helena Smith
Helena Smith is the Guardian’s Athens-based correspondent
The North Macedonian government has said it will step up inspections of nightclubs and other similar venues to ensure that they comply with internationally regulated safety standards.
The Guardian has learned that one of the owners of the Pulse discotheque is among those who have been detained.
Police have put out a ‘watch-list’ for others who are suspected of involvement but have not come forward.
North Macedonia’s government is due to shortly announce a seven-day mourning period for the victims of the Kočani nightclub fire and will order urgent inspections of all nightclubs and restaurants that host parties, according to reports.
Helena Smith
Serbia’s embattled leader president Aleksandar Vučić said 18 March would be a day of mourning in honour of the victims of the fire.
As with Greece, Bulgaria and Albania, he said Serbia was willing to assist its neighbour and offered to send helicopters, ambulances, and medical teams to North Macedonia.
In a phone call with the state’s president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, Vučić who this weekend faced mass protest rallies against his increasingly autocratic rule, said hospitals in Serbia would be ready to admit those injured in the accident.
“I expressed my heartfelt condolences to President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova following the tragic event in North Macedonia, which has deeply affected not only the people of that country but also all of us in Serbia,” Vučić posted on his Instagram account.
Our video team have produced this report about the Kočani tragedy.
Eighteen people in critical condition after fire
Eighteen of those wounded are in a critical condition, reports Agence France-Presse, with casualties being taken to hospitals across North Macedonia and preparations to take some of the most seriously injured to other countries.
“Initially we didn’t believe there was a fire. Then there was huge panic in the crowd and a stampede to get out,” one young woman who was at the concert told local media outside a hospital in the capital Skopje.
Fire crews and paramedics responded quickly and “tried to resuscitate people… but it wasn’t enough”, said the woman, who was waiting outside for one of her friends, who was being treated for burns to his hand.
The interior minister, Pance Tokovski, said earlier there were 155 people in hospital after the fire.
“Preparations are being made to transport people seriously injured in the fire in Kočani to top hospitals in several European countries,” the head of North Macedonia’s crisis centre, Stojanche Angelov, said.
The head of the Kočani hospital, Kristina Serafimovska, told media that the patients being treated there were aged between 14 and 25.
“Seventy of the patients have burns and carbon monoxide poisoning,” she said.
Pope Francis sent prayers Sunday to victims and survivors of the fire, in a message sent by the Vatican’s secretary of state. The pope is in hospital in Rome after being diagnosed with double pneumonia.
The Holy Father wished “to convey to the families of the dead, mostly young people, the expression of his deep condolence, signifying spiritual closeness to the wounded,” wrote Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin in a telegram addressed to the bishop of Skopje, Kiro Stojanov.
Helena Smith
Helena Smith is the Guardian’s Athens-based correspondent
Markos Trosanovski, a political commentator in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, said the entire nation had been plunged “into profound shock over this tragedy”.
While it was clear that the nightclub was well over capacity at the time of the concert, the government had responded immediately to the disaster, he said.
Trosanovski told the Guardian:
The response on the part of the authorities has been instant.
But there were institutional failures, the nightclub was well over capacity and it appears there were not enough fire extinguishers which would have been necessary for it to have been granted a license.
Summary of what we know so far…
-
Arrest warrants have been issued for four people in connection with the nightclub fire in North Macedonia that killed at least 59 people and injured about 155 others.
-
The interior minister said police had arrested one man, but did not provide details about his involvement.
-
The blaze began at around 02.35am (01.35 GMT) on Sunday morning during a concert at the Pulse nightclub in Kočani, a town around 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje.
-
Initial reports suggest as many as 1,500 people – mostly young – attended the concert by DNK, a hip-hop duo popular in the country.
-
The interior minister said some of the young clubgoers used pyrotechnics that caused the roof to catch fire.
-
North Macedonia’s MRT public broadcaster reported that 27 people were hospitalized at the Skopje city hospital with severe burns, and another 23 were being treated at the clinical centre. Children were also reported to be among the injured.
-
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickosk expressed “deep sadness” about the “tragedy” of the nightclub fire, saying the loss of so many young lives is “irreparable”.
North Macedonia issues four arrest warrants over Pulse nightclub fire
The interior minister has also said that authorities in North Macedonia have issued four arrest warrants over the deadly nightclub fire.
Panche Toshkivski says police are thoroughly investigating the cause of the fire and will hold those responsible to account.
Officials raise death toll from nightclub fire to at least 59
The death toll from the fire at the Pulse nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, has risen from 51 to at least 59 people, the country’s interior minister, Pance Toskovski, has said in an updated casualty count.
“According to the information that we have there are 59 persons deceased of which 35 are identified,” Toskovski said. “The number of wounded according to latest information up to noon (1100 GMT) is 155 people,” he added.
31 of the identified people who were killed in the fire were residents of Kočani, the eastern town where the concert took place, while another four were from the town of Stip nearby, the minister said.
European leaders offer assistance and extend sympathies to North Macedonia
Helena Smith
Helena Smith is the Guardian’s Athens-based correspondent
Greece, Bulgaria and Albania have been quick to offer assistance to authorities in North Macedonia.
In a post on X, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, wrote:
Heartfelt condolences to the people of North Macedonia for the lives lost in the tragic fire in Kočani.
My thoughts are with the victims and their families, and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured. Greece stands ready to assist in this difficult time.
In a further show of support from the EU, Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, announced that the 27-member bloc “stands in solidarity with the people of North Macedonia in this moment of grief”.
“Heartbroken by the loss of so many young people in the terrible fire in Kočani. My thoughts go out to all the families of the victims of this tragedy,” he said in a statement posted on X.
