Thousands of people gathered in North Macedonia on Monday to call for justice for 59 people killed in a nightclub blaze on Sunday and demand an end to corruption that they say was behind the country’s worst disaster in years.
The fire broke out during a hip hop concert in the town of Kocani at about 3am (2am local time) on Sunday, when sparks from flares set a patch of ceiling alight. Hundreds of people scrambled for the unlicensed venue’s only exit as flames spread across the roof.
The incident has shattered the town of 25,000 people, 80km (50 miles) east of the capital Skopje. Bulldozers and workers with shovels dug a line of fresh graves in the town’s cemetery on Monday. People with missing loved ones queued outside the hospital to give DNA samples in case their relatives were not immediately identifiable.
Officials said the club’s licence was illegally obtained and that the venue lacked fire extinguishers and emergency exits. More than 150 people were injured. “I want everyone who helped this place carry on with its business to be jailed,” said 16-year-old Jovan, who said he lost a friend in the fire. “We need change because this is a corrupt country.”
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Jovan joined thousands of others in a quiet protest in Kocani’s central square on Monday. People hugged and cried as they lined up to light candles for the dead and write messages of condolence. Some held placards that read: “We are not dying from accidents; we are dying from corruption” and “Everything is legal here if you have connections.” Hundreds more held a vigil in central Skopje.
The Pulse nightclub, which local media described as a former carpet warehouse, is a squat building with a corrugated iron roof that backs on to a grassy vacant lot. It had just one emergency exit, which was locked during Sunday’s concert, two fire extinguishers and no fire alarm or sprinkler system, North Macedonia’s state prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said.
“It did not have two exit doors, but only one single improvised metal door at the back of the building, which was locked and without a handle on the inside,” Mr Kocevski said.
The ceiling was made of flammable materials and the plasterboard walls were not fire resistant. Reuters pictures on Monday showed the club’s roof burned through and collapsed in places, its interior wooden beams exposed and blackened.
“(The nightclub) operated in substandard conditions. It does not have this and that, and people were making money from it. Who is responsible?” said Sasa Djenic, a schoolteacher whose 15-year-old daughter escaped the fire with burns to her arms.
Draghi Stojanov’s son died in the fire. “After this tragedy, what do I need this life for? I had one child and I lost him,” he told Reuters.
Authorities have arrested about 20 people in connection with the fire, including government officials and the nightclub’s manager.
Mr 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.
Prime minister Hristijan Mickoski said the club’s licence was issued illegally by the economy ministry, and promised those responsible would face justice. Former economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi was questioned by police over the disaster, the local TV 5 broadcaster said.
Fifty-one people were treated in hospitals in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Turkey. Burn specialists from Serbia, the Czech Republic and Israel were expected in North Macedonia on Monday to assist local medical staff. More would be taken to hospitals in Croatia and Romania, officials said. – Reuters
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