For 19-year-old Marija Taseva and her sister, it was meant to be a fun night out to see hip-hop band DNK in the North Macedonian town of Kocani.
But it ended with her sister being killed and Marija barely escaping with her life, as a fire in the early hours of Sunday morning tore through the packed show at Club Pulse, leaving 59 people dead and more than 150 injured from burns, smoke inhalation and being trampled in the panicked escape for the building’s single exit.
Tearing up as she sat outside a hospital, Marija said: “There are many dead. It’s terrible. My sister died. I was saved, and she wasn’t.”
“Some people suffocated there, some people stayed in the disco and they couldn’t get out,” she said.
Describing her escape, Marija said: “Everyone started screaming and shouting: “Get out, get out!’.”
“I don’t know how, but I ended up on the ground. I couldn’t get up, and at that moment people started stomping on me,” she told Reuters.
“I barely stayed alive and I could barely breathe,” she added.
Incredibly, Marija ended up only being treated for relatively minor injuries to her face and body.
‘Grounds for suspicion of bribery and corruption’
A video on social media of DNK’s concert in Sofia, Bulgaria, the night before the tragedy in North Macedonia, showed a pyrotechnics display during their set.
But the next night, sparks from the pyrotechnics in Club Pulse ignited a fire on the ceiling, leading to the blaze which brought down the roof of the venue.
Most of the band are also among the dead, including its lead singer Andrej Gjorgieski, according to local media.
Authorities say they are investigating allegations of bribery surrounding the nightclub crammed with young revellers on Sunday. North Macedonia’s government ordered a sweeping three-day inspection to be carried out at all nightclubs and cabarets across the country, starting on Monday.
State prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said a preliminary inspection of the nightclub had revealed numerous safety code violations including a lack of emergency exits, an insufficient number of fire extinguishers and improper access for emergency vehicles.
“The omissions are significant. I can confidently say that this is a failure of the system,” the prosecutor told reporters, also noting the lack of an overhead extinguisher system and fire alarms and the use of flammable materials to line the inside walls.
Officials said 10 people remain in police custody for questioning in Kocani, a city of 24,600 people some 100 kilometres east of the capital, Skopje. Interior minister Panche Toshkovski added that a preliminary inspection revealed the club was operating without a proper licence and the number of people inside the club was at least double its official capacity of 250.
“We have grounds for suspicion that there is bribery and corruption in this case,” Mr Toshkovski added.
So far about 20 people have been questioned over the fire, and investigators have begun proceedings against 11, including three people who remain in hospital.
‘I grieve the tragic loss of life’
As families gathered outside a hospital for updates, Tomco Stojanov had already been given the devastating news. His 25-year-old son, Andrej, had died.
“Thank you for your condolences, but my pain is incurable. The wound is incurable,” Mr Stojanov said, holding up a photo of his son, clean-shaven and wearing a suit jacket. “He died while returning and entering to save other people. And he was pushed, run over, that’s how my son died.”
The death toll could rise further, with many of the injured transported to hospital in critical condition, and dozens have been flown to hospitals in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria for treatment.
The director of Pirogov Hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria, said the eight initial patients who had been airlifted there were in extremely serious conditions. The patients include three children aged under 18, and three of the patients are intubated to allow them to breathe.
Dr Valentin Dimitrov said the patients had injuries to their bodies, arms and faces, and had suffered burns to their respiratory tracts, he told Koha newspaper.
Five people have been hospitalised in Greece, and two have undergone surgery while another two have had tracheotomies.
Parents of the victims gathered outside a hospital in Kocani, demanding answers from officials over the tragedy.
Pope Francis shared his “profound condolences” and “his remembrance in prayer for those who lost their lives” in the tragedy. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also shared her sympathies with the families of the victims.
“I grieve the tragic loss of life in the fire in Kocani,” she wrote on Twitter/X.
Dragi Stojanov was among the parents searching for answers after he lost his 21-year-old son, Tomche, in the fire.
“Let me tell you in front of everybody, Film me. I am a dead man, I lost everything,” he said. “The whole of Europe should know.”
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