North Macedonia has lowered flags to half-staff as thousands of people have gathered at memorials to mourn the 59 people killed in a nightclub blaze over the weekend.
The fire broke out during a concert by a hip-hop duo called DNK at the Pulse club in the town of Kocani about 3am (02:00 GMT) on Sunday when sparks from flares set the ceiling alight. About 155 people were also injured, triggering an outpouring of grief in the small Balkan country.
Authorities were investigating the flouting of license regulations and allegations of bribery linked to the nightclub, which was crammed with young revellers at double capacity when the fire tore through it.
Authorities have so far arrested and detained about 20 people for questioning in connection with the fire, including government officials and the nightclub’s manager.
One of DNK’s singers, Andrej Gjorgjieski, was killed and the other, Vladimir Blazev, was injured while a guitarist, a drummer and a back-up singer also died.
The death toll may rise because 20 of the injured are in critical condition, Health Minister Arben Taravari said on Monday.
Countries including Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkiye have accepted about 50 patients with the most serious injuries for treatment while several countries are also sending medical teams to North Macedonia, officials said.
“All patients who have been transferred abroad are currently in stable condition. We hope it stays that way and that we will receive positive news from abroad,” Taravari said.
‘We cannot be silent’
In the capital, Skopje, hundreds of people massed at a university in frigid rain for a student-led memorial ceremony, during which people observed several minutes of silence, laid flowers and lit candles at a makeshift shrine.
Emotions ran high for some.
“I think that this is not an accident but literally direct murder due to all the breaches that are being done in the state. We cannot be silent all the time, no matter how afraid we are,” Angela Zumbakova, a 19-year-old student of psychology, told the AFP news agency.
“[The nightclub] operated in substandard conditions. It does not have this and that, and people were making money from it. Who is responsible?” Sasa Djenic, a schoolteacher whose 15-year-old daughter escaped the fire with burns on her arms, told the Reuters news agency.
A state coroner said the bodies were being brought for identification in batches from morgues due to the high number of people killed.
In Kocani, dozens of people waited in line to sign books of condolences.
“We are all in shock, and I am shocked myself – as a mother, as a person, as a president,” President Gordana Davkova Siljanovska said in an address to the nation on Sunday night.
Condolences also poured in from leaders around Europe, including the hospitalised Pope Francis.
Reporting from Kocani, Al Jazeera’s Maja Blazevska said the people who had gathered in the city centre to express their sadness had identified a culprit for the fire.
“They were blaming, as they said, Macedonia’s corrupt system for this tragedy,” she said.
North Macedonia’s government ordered a sweeping three-day inspection to be carried out at all nightclubs and cabarets across the country, starting on Monday.
Public Prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said a preliminary inspection of the nightclub had revealed numerous safety code violations, including a lack of emergency exits, an insufficient number of fire extinguishers and improper access for emergency vehicles.
The fire caused the roof of the single-storey building to partially collapse, revealing the charred remains of wooden beams and debris.
“The omissions are significant. I can confidently say that this is a failure of the system,” the prosecutor told reporters, also noting the lack of an overhead extinguisher system and fire alarms and the use of flammable materials to line the inside walls.
Kocevski said his office was working to determine the criminal liability of a number of people for “serious offences against public security” and other crimes.
“The individuals acted contrary to the regulations and technical rules of the protection measures and thereby caused a danger to the life and work of people on a large scale,” he said.
