Thousands gather to mourn North Macedonia nightclub fire dead

Thousands have gathered at cemeteries across North Macedonia for the funerals of dozens of people killed in a nightclub fire on Sunday.

The blaze tore through the small Pulse club in the town of Kocani, killing 59 and injuring scores more.

Officials say the club illegally obtained its licence, that it lacked sprinklers, and that the venue was a converted carpet warehouse, whose single emergency exit was locked at the time of the fire.

More than 20 people have been detained, including government officials, police officers and the manager of the club, as anger has grown.

Funerals took place across the country on Thursday for the dead.

The funeral procession in Kocani was long – and understandably sombre. This small town of fewer than 30,000 people lost dozens of its young people.

Many mourners held portrait photographs of the people they had lost. Some teenagers tried to hide their tears behind sunglasses, but others wept openly.

The dead were buried side-by-side in Kocani’s cemetery. An Orthodox Church service was to follow.

In Skopje, around 1,000 people gathered for the funeral of Andrej Gorgieski, a 43-year-old singer in the band DNK that was performing at the club when the fire broke out.

While the day is for mourning, anger is growing over corrupt practices that allowed the Pulse nightclub to operate.

Protests against corruption have taken place across the country this week.

On Monday, some in Kocani even vandalised a pub which they said the Pulse nightclub owner had also run. Others threw rocks and smashed windows at the mayor’s office the same night.

The anger and the grief have prompted government inspections of cafes and nightclubs across North Macedonia for any possible safety violations.

Investigators have now named all 59 people killed in the blaze – most of them teenagers and young people.

The deadly fire began around 02:30 local time (01:30 GMT) on Sunday and spread rapidly as the ceiling was made of flammable material, Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said earlier this week.

He said there were 500 people inside the venue at the time, well over capacity for the 250 tickets sold, and that there were “grounds for suspicion that there is bribery and corruption” linked to the fire.

More than 160 people were injured in the blaze, including 45 suffering very serious injuries. Many were flown to hospitals in neighbouring Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Turkey for specialist treatment.