At least 59 people were killed and 150 more injured when pyrotechnics inside a packed nightclub in Kochani, North Macedonia sparked a fire that engulfed the venue.
A reported 1,500 people, many in their teens and twenties, were inside the Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning to watch local band DNK perform. During the act’s set, pyrotechnics on the stage ignited a fire that spread quickly on the venue’s ceiling, Reuters reported.
“The fire was caused by pyrotechnics used for lighting effects at the concert and activated the sprinklers,” Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski said during a Sunday morning press conference. “Most likely, sparks caught a part of the ceiling that was made of flammable material, causing the fire to spread to the entire discotheque in a short period of time, creating thick smoke.”
One concertgoer told local television channel Kanal 5 that people were trampled as they tried to escape the nightclub. “Everyone was trying to save themselves,” 22-year-old Marija Taseva said, adding that her sister, who also attended the concert, was still unaccounted for: “We can’t find her in any hospital.”
The owner of the Pulse nightclub was detained by police following the blaze, with arrest warrants also issued for four other unspecified people, CNN reported.
North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote on social media, “The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, while the pain of our families, our close ones and our friends is immeasurable,” adding that it was a “difficult and very sad day.”
Eighteen people injured in the fire remained in critical condition Sunday. Of the 59 confirmed fatalities, 35 people had been identified, with the ages ranging from 14 to 24, the BBC said.
The incident was reminiscent of the February 2003 nightclub fire during a Great White concert in Warwick, Rhode Island that killed 100 people, and was the latest in a rash of nightclub fires in Europe in recent years. The blaze was also the deadliest nightclub fire in Europe since 2015, when 64 people were killed in a Bucharest, Romania venue where pyrotechnics also caused a fire.
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