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At least 59 people were killed and 155 others were injured when a fire broke out overnight in a nightclub in North Macedonia, the country\u2019s interior minister, Panche Toshkovski, said on Sunday. The blaze \u2014 the deadliest national tragedy in recent memory \u2014 has horrified the small country in southeastern Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable,\u201d Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n The police have detained 15 people, including the manager of the club and the son of its owner, Mr. Toshkovski, the interior minister, said. He said that the company that ran the club did not have a license. He added that several former or current officials had been arrested in connection with the case.<\/p>\n \u201cThis license \u2014 as many other things in the past in Macedonia \u2014 is connected to bribery and corruption,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I want to tell the Macedonian public that, unlike other times in the past, the people that issue these illegal licenses will be named and be held responsible for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Toshkovski said<\/a> that about 500 people had been inside the club but that only 250 tickets had been sold by the club in Kocani, which is about 50 miles east of the capital, Skopje. The blaze ripped through the club in the eastern town of Kocani during a pop concert, he said, adding that fireworks caused the roof to catch fire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A police officer died while on duty in the club to check for drugs or underage guests, he said.<\/p>\n Patients being treated for injuries were between the ages of 16 and 24, Dr. Kristina Serafimova, the director of a hospital in Kocani, told reporters<\/a>. Many people died in a stampede, she said, as panicked people tried to escape the blaze.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s devastating,\u201d Goran Georgijev, 47, who lives a short walk from the club, said in a phone interview. He said his neighbor\u2019s daughter, who was 17, died in the fire, as did the sons of two of his friends. They were 21 and 22, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t even pick up the phone to call them,\u201d Mr. Georgijev said of his friends and neighbors. \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Georgijev used to go to the nightclub when he was younger, he said, adding that it was poorly built and had a cloth-covered ceiling. He said he heard a cracking sound around 3 a.m., and then the scream of sirens.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew something terrible was happening,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cIt is a tragic day for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n The death toll may still rise. Arben Taravari, the health minister, told reporters<\/a> that 20 people were in critical condition, and some patients were being sent to hospitals in other countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n And for many in North Macedonia, a small country of about two million people that borders Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Serbia, the blaze brought up painful memories of other tragedies.<\/p>\n In 2021, a fire at a hospital for coronavirus patients<\/a> killed at least 14 people. That same year, 45 people were killed<\/a> when a North Macedonian tourist bus crashed in flames.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cEvery year, we have a fire-connected tragedy,\u201d Ognen Janeski, who heads an ethics council at the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, said in an interview.<\/p>\n While the circumstances of the fire at the club remain unclear, Mr. Janeski said that official corruption had contributed to a number of such accidents in North Macedonia. People were already assuming that was also the case with the latest tragedy, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is this overwhelming sense of grief and frustration among the public,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody believes in the system,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Some people were drawing connections to Serbia in social media posts, he said. More than 100,000 people marched in protest in Belgrade on Saturday<\/a> over the deaths last year of 15 people killed by the collapse of a canopy at a railway station. Many blamed the catastrophe on shoddy work tied to corrupt officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The government in North Macedonia declared<\/a> a weeklong national mourning period and ordered an inspection of all nightclubs over the next three days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cEveryone involved in this tragic event and knowingly contributed to endangering human lives will be brought before the justice authorities and will be held accountable,\u201d the government said in a statement.<\/p>\n The fire is one of several deadly infernos in clubs around the world in recent years. The rooms are often dark, crowded and loud. People can struggle to evacuate quickly \u2014 or even realize that there is an emergency.<\/p>\n Last year, at least 29 people<\/a> were killed in a club fire<\/a> in Istanbul. In 2023, 13 people<\/a> died when a club complex caught fire in Spain. A 2015 fire killed at least 27 people<\/a> in Romania, and one in 2013 killed at least 233 people<\/a> in Brazil. In 2003, a fire at a club in Rhode Island, which was started by pyrotechnics, killed 100 people<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ognen Cancarevik, a reporter for Telma, a national television station, said in a phone interview that Kocani \u2014 a small town in a region where many people work in agriculture \u2014 was devastated by the tragedy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPeople are angry,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople want answers, and people want to know who is responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n Young people often leave the country to look for work or higher salaries abroad, he said, and many Macedonians are frustrated by low salaries and corruption.<\/p>\n \u201cThe morale is low,\u201d Mr. Cancarevik said. \u201cThe last thing we need is a tragedy of this scale where young and innocent kids die.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n