Fire at North Macedonia Nightclub Kills 59, Injures over 150

Rescue crews gather outside a night club, following a fire resulting in casualties, in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Rescue crews gather outside a night club, following a fire resulting in casualties, in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Fire at North Macedonia Nightclub Kills 59, Injures over 150

Rescue crews gather outside a night club, following a fire resulting in casualties, in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Rescue crews gather outside a night club, following a fire resulting in casualties, in the town of Kocani, North Macedonia, March 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Fire ripped through a packed nightclub early on Sunday in the North Macedonian town of Kocani, killing 59 people and injuring more than 150, officials said, after sparks ignited the roof above a live band.

Authorities arrested about 20 people in connection with the fire, including government officials and the manager of the "Pulse" nightclub, which did not have a legitimate license, Interior Minister Pance Toskovski told a press conference.

"We have a reason to suspect graft and corruption were involved in this case," he said, without providing details.

One video from the event, verified by Reuters, showed a band playing on stage flanked by two flares whose white sparks set a patch of ceiling alight. The fire spread fast and caused a panicked rush to the exits.

"Fire broke out, everyone started screaming and shouting: 'Get out, get out'," Marija Taseva, 22, told Reuters.

As she tried to escape, Taseva fell to the ground and people trod on her, injuring her face. In the rush, she lost contact with her sister, who did not make it out.

"My sister died," Taseva said, breaking into tears.

Toskovski confirmed that the fire, which began at around 3 a.m. (0200 GMT), was caused by "pyrotechnic devices" whose sparks triggered the blaze. He said 500 people were in the club when the fire started.

About 148 people were hospitalized in Skopje, Kocani and surrounding towns, Health Minister Arben Taravari said, adding that 20 people were critically injured.

Condolences flooded in from global leaders, including EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Pope Francis.

People searched for missing loved ones online and at hospitals across the country.

Simeon Sokolov, 50, found his daughter Anastasija at the emergency ward of the September 8 hospital in the capital Skopje, where she was being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.

"I just know that there are many children who have suffered," he told Reuters. "Doctors are doing their job and the number is big."

Some patients were transferred to neighboring Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece for treatment, authorities from those countries said.

INVESTIGATION

North Macedonia's Public Prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said five prosecutors would investigate the incident.

"At the moment, orders have been issued for collecting of evidence" and some people were being interviewed, Kocevski said, without elaborating.

Toskovski said authorities had arrested members of the band, the son of the club owner and government officials.

Firefighters doused the charred and smoking entrance of the nightclub before dawn as ambulances rushed from the scene, TV footage from a local broadcaster showed.

Reuters pictures showed the club's corrugated iron roof burned through and collapsed in places, its interior wooden beams exposed and blackened.

North Macedonia Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said on Facebook: "This is a difficult and very sad day for Macedonia! The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable."

After visiting the injured in a hospital in Skopje, North Macedonia's President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, dressed in black and fighting tears, said authorities were ready to do everything to help all affected.

"I simply cannot comprehend this ... what a disaster, what a tragedy." 



Macron Speeds up Rafale Warplane Orders as France Invests in Nuclear Deterrence

France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of a Dassault Rafale (R) and A Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft during his visit of the French Air and Space Force (Armee de l'air et de l'espace) Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of a Dassault Rafale (R) and A Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft during his visit of the French Air and Space Force (Armee de l'air et de l'espace) Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Macron Speeds up Rafale Warplane Orders as France Invests in Nuclear Deterrence

France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of a Dassault Rafale (R) and A Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft during his visit of the French Air and Space Force (Armee de l'air et de l'espace) Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of a Dassault Rafale (R) and A Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft during his visit of the French Air and Space Force (Armee de l'air et de l'espace) Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, north-eastern France on March 18, 2025. (AFP)

President Emmanuel Macron said France would order additional Rafale warplanes in the coming years and invest nearly 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) into one of its air bases to equip its squadrons with the latest nuclear missile technology.

Jolted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump's more confrontational stance towards traditional Western allies, European countries are hiking defense spending and seeking to reduce dependence on the United States.

Macron, who has initiated a doubling of the French defense budget over the course of his two mandates, has recently set an even higher target, saying the country should increase defense spending to 3-3.5% of economic output from the current 2%.

He has also offered to extend the protection of France's nuclear weapons, the so-called nuclear umbrella, to other European countries.

"We haven't waited for 2022 or the turning point we're seeing right now to discover that the world we live in is ever more dangerous, ever more uncertain, and that it implies to innovate, to bulk up and to become more autonomous," he said.

"I will announce in the coming weeks new investments to go further than what was done over the past seven years," he told soldiers at one of the country's historical air bases in Luxeuil, eastern France.

Macron said he had decided to turn the base, famed in military circles as the home of American volunteer pilots during World War One, into one of its most advanced bases in its nuclear deterrence program.

The base will host the latest Rafale S5 fighter jets, which will carry France's next-generation ASN4G hypersonic nuclear-armed cruise missiles, which are intended to be operational from 2035 onwards, French officials said.

The French air force will also receive additional Dassault-made Rafale warplanes, in part to replace the Mirage jets France has transferred to Ukraine, Macron said.

"We are going to increase and accelerate our orders for Rafales," he said.

French officials said the 1.5 billion euros were part of the already approved multi-year military spending plan. It remained unclear how France would finance a massive hike in military spending at a time it is trying to reduce its budget deficit.

Macron's speech comes on the day the German parliament approved a massive increase in military spending.