North Macedonia has declared a seven-day period of mourning after a fire in a nightclub that left at least 59 dead and scores injured, as authorities detained 15 people for questioning and the interior minister said a preliminary inspection revealed the club was operating without a proper licence, Report informs via The Guardian.
At the end of a day in which the small Balkan country grappled with a disaster not seen in decades, its interior minister Panche Toshkovski said the venue in the eastern town of Kočani where the pre-dawn blaze occurred appeared to be operating illegally.
“This company does not have a legal licence for work,” Toshkovski told reporters. “This licence, as many other things in Macedonia in the past, is connected with bribery and corruption,” he added without elaborating.
More than 20 people were under investigation, 15 of whom were in police custody, while others suspected of involvement were in hospital, he said.
Most of those killed by the blaze, which ripped through the Pulse nightclub during a hip-hop concert, were teenagers and young adults. Over 155 were injured, many critically.
The premises had previously served as a carpet warehouse in Kočani, a town about 60 miles (97km) east of the capital, Skopje. Press reports described it as an “improvised nightclub.”
The prime minister, Hristijan Mickoski, said the loss of so many young lives was “irreparable”. “All competent forces will do whatever is necessary to address the consequences and determine the causes of this tragedy,” he promised earlier on Sunday.