Arrest warrants follow deadly nightclub fire in North Macedonia

CGTN Europe

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.

Transcript

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.

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