At least 59 people died and around 150 were injured after a fire tore through a nightclub in North Macedonia, with the country\u2019s interior minister blaming pyrotechnics. <\/p>\n
Hundreds had gathered at the \u2018Pulse\u2019 nightclub in the town of Kochani, east of the capital Skopje, to watch local act DNK perform when the blaze broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning. <\/p>\n
Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski, announced the casualties at a press conference on Sunday, saying on stage effects triggered a blaze that quickly spread. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe fire was caused by pyrotechnics used for lighting effects at the concert and activated the sprinklers,\u201d he said. \u201cMost likely, sparks caught a part of the ceiling that was made of flammable material, causing the fire to spread to the entire discotheque in a short period of time, creating thick smoke.\u201d <\/p>\n
Video from inside the venue shows a band performing as pyrotechnic devices shoot out sparks at the front of the stage. <\/p>\n
One concert-goer, 22-year-old Marija Taseva, told local television channel Kanal 5 that as she tried to escape the blaze, she fell to the ground and people ran over her, Reuters reported. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was trying to save themselves,\u201d Taseva said, adding that she lost contact with her sister in the chaos. \u201cWe can\u2019t find her in any hospital,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
At least 152 people who were injured in the tragedy were taken to hospitals across the country, state media outlet MIA reported, citing the country\u2019s health ministry. Dozens of victims are being treated for second-degree burns on their hands and faces, Vlatko Zahariev, head of the city of Shtip\u2019s hospital said, according to MIA. <\/p>\n
Police detained the owner of the nightclub on Sunday morning, MIA reported, as the country\u2019s Justice Minister, Igor Filkov, said that all those involved in the tragedy will be held responsible. Four people are wanted by police in connection to the disaster. <\/p>\n
North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said it was a \u201cdifficult and very sad day.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe loss of so many young lives is irreparable, while the pain of our families, our close ones and our friends is immeasurable,\u201d he wrote on X. <\/p>\n
Leaders from across Europe have taken to social media to express their condolences for the disaster, including Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, President of the European Council. <\/p>\n
Angela Aggeler, the US ambassador to North Macedonia, also posted about the incident on X, writing Sunday that her \u201cheart breaks\u201d for the victims of the tragedy and offering the US embassy\u2019s assistance and resources. <\/p>\n
The disaster is one of the deadliest nightclub fires to have taken place in at least a decade. In 2015, a crowded nightclub in Bucharest, Romania was engulfed in flames after pyrotechnics were set off during a concert, killing 64 people. <\/p>\n
Two years earlier, more than 240 people died after a fire broke out at a nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil. Pyrotechnics were also being used inside the club when the fire started. <\/p>\n
This story has been updated with additional information. <\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At least 59 people died and around 150 were injured after a fire tore through a nightclub in North Macedonia, with the country\u2019s interior minister blaming pyrotechnics. Hundreds had gathered at the \u2018Pulse\u2019 nightclub in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}