North Macedonia lowered flags to half staff and people flocked to memorials Monday as the nation mourned a horrific nightclub blaze that killed 59 people at the weekend.
The blaze at the hip-hop concert in the eastern town of Kocani, which also injured around 155 people, triggered an outpouring of grief in the small Balkan country where authorities vowed an investigation.
The fire started as a crowd of young fans packed into Club Pulse to attend the performance by a popular hip-hop duo called DNK, with the blaze apparently ignited by fireworks onstage.
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.
In the capital Skopje, hundreds massed at a university amid frigid rain for a student-led memorial ceremony, where people paused for a several minutes of silence and laid flowers and lit candles at a makeshift shrine.
Emotions ran high for some.
“I think that this is not an accident but literary 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 are we,” said Angela Zumbakova, a 19-year-old student of psychology.
In Kocani, dozens waited in line to sign a book of condolences.
More than 20 people were under investigation over the incident, 15 of whom were already in police custody, while others were in hospital, according to the interior minister.
– No fireworks license –
The list of suspects includes the owner of the club, the organiser of the event, and people responsible for security.
A former director of the rescue services and a state secretary at the economy ministry were also among those detained.
The interior ministry also said that around 500 people were packed inside the venue, even though just 250 tickets had been sold.
On Sunday, the head of the Kocani hospital, Kristina Serafimovska, said that many of the dead “suffered injuries from the stampede that occurred in the panic while trying to exit”.
The government has announced a seven-day mourning period.
“Let us unite our forces, let us not allow anyone else to sacrifice standards for profit, nothing is more valuable than the lives of young people,” North Macedonia’s President Gordana Siljanovska said late Sunday.
Videos posted on social networks and shot before the fire showed there were “stage fountains” set up — a type of indoor fireworks used during performances.
Other videos showed huge flames emerging from the building, a white two-storey structure in Kocani, a town of around 30,000 residents.
The prosecutor’s office later said the club had breached several fire regulations, including having insufficient extinguishers and emergency exits.
The club did not have a licence to use fireworks and did not have required safety vehicles parked outside.
Support from countries across Europe also flooded in, with several patients in critical condition transferred to hospitals abroad.
