KOCANI, North Macedonia -- At least 59 people were killed when fireworks sparked a blaze during a concert at a crowded nightclub in the eastern town of Kocani, officials said.
More than 150 people were hospitalized, some with severe burns, Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski told a news conference on March 16.
The fire -- one of the deadliest in decades in North Macedonia -- broke out when a pyrotechnic display was used during a concert by the band DNA late on March 15, Toshkovski told reporters.
He said it appeared that the ceiling at the Pulse nightclub was made of flammable material that caught fire from the pyrotechnic sparks and thick smoke quickly spread throughout the building. Video posted on social media late on March 15 showed towering flames reaching up out of the building's roof.
Toshkovski also said an arrest warrant had been issued for four people, though he declined to identify them.
Relatives and friends of victims crowded outside local hospitals and city offices, trying to get more information.
Aleksandar Mishev said he and others noticed the flames after the fire erupted and ran toward the nightclub, as young people were fleeing in panic.
"About 10 to 20 young people, we carried them to the hospital, took them out of there and then took them to the hospital,“ he told RFE/RL.
"I know many of them. And those I don’t know, I know their parents," another man, Stojan Guvchevski, said. "It's terrible."
“The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable,” Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said in a post to X.
North Macedonia's public prosecutor's office said in a statement that "all competent services, including a public prosecutor from the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Kocani, are on the scene."
"The number of victims and injured in the fire is being determined," it said.
Kocani, with a population of around 25,000, is about 100 kilometers east of the capital, Skopje.
