Police have detained 15 people after a fire at a nightclub in North Macedonia killed at least 59 people, officials have said.
The blaze broke out around 02:30 local time (01:30 GMT) on Sunday at the Pulse club in Kocani, where about 500 people had gathered for a concert by DNK, a popular hip-hop duo in the country.
Only one member of the band survived and was being treated in hospital, a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office told the BBC’s Newshour. In total, 155 were injured at the concert.
Interior Minister Pance Toskovski has said the detainees will be questioned, adding that there are “grounds for suspicion that there is bribery and corruption” linked to the fire.
He said that the venue did not have a legal licence to operate.
The venue, in a town around 100km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje, has been described as an “improvised nightclub” in the local press, having previously been a carpet warehouse.
Biljana Arsovska, spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office, said there had been only “one efficient exit” in the building, as the venue’s back door was locked and could not be used.
The first on-site inspections on Sunday had also showed several “abnormalities” in the venue. “There are deficiencies in the system for fire-extinguishing and the system for lightning,” she said.
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 – which formed in 2002 and has topped the North Macedonian charts over the past decade – playing on stage when two flares go off, after which sparks 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 the fact there was only a single entry and exit point to the improvised nightclub 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.”
Red Cross volunteer Mustafa Saidov said most of those affected were young people aged 18 to 20. Officials say more than 20 of the injured and three of those killed were under 18.
“The situation is brutal, chaotic, the stories are very sad, and unfortunately many young lives are lost,” Mr Saidov added.
Dr Vladislav Gruev, a specialist in reconstructive and plastic surgery at the University Clinic for Surgical Diseases in the capital, told the BBC most of the patients being treated at his hospital arrived with extensive burns.
“[They have] second and third degree burns in the head, neck and upper torso,” he said.
Kocani’s hospital director earlier said that staff had initially been struggling to identify patients due to a lack of ID cards. Eighteen patients were assessed as being in a critical condition.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski called it a “difficult and very sad day” for the country, which had lost many “young lives”.
The government has declared seven days of national mourning, and the government is holding an emergency session as part of ongoing investigations on how the incident unfolded.
North Macedonia’s President, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, said she was shocked “as a mother, as a person, as a president”. Addressing the bereaved directly, she added: “Your immense pain is mine too.”
“No business or activity can function without standards and rules,” she wrote in a statement. “Let us not allow anyone to endanger the lives of innocent people again.”
Siljanovska-Davkova added that the most seriously injured were being taken to received treatment in specialist clinics in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Turkey.
European leaders have voiced their condolences, with European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen saying the EU “stands in solidarity with the people of North Macedonia in this difficult time”.
Neighbouring Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called it “a tragedy of immense magnitude”, adding that fears remain as “many more people will not be able to withstand the level of injuries they have at this moment”.
Additional reporting by Richard Irvine-Brown
