Deadly nightclub inferno shocks North Macedonia: ‘children burnt beyond recognition’

By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-17 06:14:50 | Updated at 2025-03-17 11:50:29 5 hours ago

After North Macedonia’s deadliest tragedy in recent memory, with dozens dying in a nightclub inferno, the tiny Balkan nation was struggling to grapple with so many young lives lost while trying to hold those responsible to account and prevent another calamity.

The massive fire tore through the overcrowded nightclub early Sunday in the eastern town of Kocani leaving 59 people dead and 155 injured from burns, smoke inhalation and being trampled in the panicked escape toward the building’s single exit.

People as young as 16 were among the casualties, and the nation declared seven days of mourning.

“We are all in shock, and I am shocked myself: as a mother, as a person, as a president,” North Macedonia’s President Gordana Davkova Siljanovska said in an address to the nation Sunday night.

 AFP

Firefighters and police officers at the scene. Photo: AFP

“I still cannot believe that the terrible tragedy in Kocani is a reality. I do not know with what words to express my condolences to the parents and loved ones of the deceased,” she said. “No one responsible should escape the law, justice and punishment! Let us not allow anyone to endanger the lives of innocent people any more.”

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