Four arrest warrants have been issued in connection with a nightclub fire after at least 59 people died and 150 injured.
The blaze occurred in the early hours of Sunday in the eastern town of Kocani. Our correspondent Aljosa Milenkovic reports from the scene.
The blaze occurred in the early hours of Sunday in the eastern town of Kocani. Our correspondent Aljosa Milenkovic reports from the scene.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Yes, Paul, as you mentioned, the latest death toll has reached the number of 59, but as
00:07we can hear, several people are still fighting for their lives in several hospitals across
00:12not just this country.
00:13We also heard that several injured were evacuated to neighboring countries, particularly Serbia,
00:18to military hospitals, because there they have very good conditions to fight injuries
00:26which are related to burns and suffocation.
00:29And what we also heard, what we also know in the meantime, is that police are investigating
00:35more details about this.
00:37We have seen some of the footage, some of the horrific footage, which are shared online,
00:43where emergency services from this city were rather slow in reaction and that people themselves,
00:51the locals, had to take injured to hospitals here in Kočani, in the neighboring town of
00:55Štip, in the capital of Skopje.
00:58Response of the emergency services was relatively slow, because this is a small city, it is
01:03a city of only 30,000 people, and it is not a wonder that this huge tragedy was actually
01:09caught them off guard.
01:11According to various sources, several hundred people were inside at the moment when the
01:15fire started.
01:17The manager of the group which actually performed here said that they sold only around 250 tickets
01:24and according to people who were present there, there were far more people than 250.
01:31We are also seeing and hearing that there was a stampede which was sparked by this fire
01:37and that stampede was actually the main cause of death of many, because there was only one
01:42exit door and because of that small exit door, people just couldn't get out and it was really
01:49horrific scenes.
01:50What we also learned is that the country of North Macedonia declared mourning for the
01:56next seven days.