Newspapers in North Macedonia today summarize the details of the tragedy and publish statements from people in power and the public. The focus falls on the victims, who are still fighting for their lives or are being treated for severe burns in the country and abroad, as well as on the numerous irregularities found in and around the scene of the incident.
A total of 59 people died and 155 suffered varying degrees of burns and injuries after a fire broke out in the early hours of Sunday at the “Pulse“ disco in the city of Kocani, in the eastern part of North Macedonia, during a concert by the popular band “DNA“. The fire was caused by sparks from pyrotechnics used for lighting effects at the concert. Some of the injured have been transported to Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Serbia for treatment. A total of 14 of the injured are currently being treated in Bulgaria.
A seven-day mourning period has been declared in the country.
“There will be no mercy, there will be responsibility by name and surname! Either we will defeat the corrupt system, or we will not exist!“, the newspaper “Deneshen Vestnik“ published a headline quoting Prime Minister Mickoski.
The newspaper “Focus“ quoted prosecutor Ljubcho Kocevski, who stated that the prosecution will request short-term detention for ten people for whom evidence of possible responsibility for the fire in the nightclub was presented. According to him, the building had no fire hydrant network, an insufficient number of fire extinguishers, not enough doors and no fireproof roof. He also stressed that according to documents, the building functioned as a light industrial facility, not as a catering establishment.
“I formed a prosecutorial team consisting of two prosecutors from Skopje, two from the Kocani prosecutor's office and one from Shtip, with the proposal to appoint another one from the Shtip prosecutor's office during the day“, Kocevski also said.
The newspaper “Kurir“ reports that the owner had locked one of the club's doors with a padlock, which, if it had been opened, could have helped to evacuate more people from the club more quickly. The director of the Crisis Management Center, Stoyanche Angelov, who was present at the scene, denied to the MMS portal that there had been speculation that the police had locked the controversial door because of an operation.
„It is not true that the police had closed the door. The door had been locked by the owner for who knows when and had a padlock. Additionally, polystyrene insulation was placed on the outside. This is a secondary door that had been barricaded earlier“, the publication quoted Angelov as saying.
The newspaper „Nova Makedonija“ quotes Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, who expressed his condolences on social networks on the occasion of the great tragedy that took place in Kochani.
The newspaper „Republika“ is publishing an article dedicated to angry civil reactions after the statement of prosecutor Kocevski about the „short-term“ detention of ten people in connection with the fire in Kocani.
„Well, don't arrest them at all, or just for 3-4 days, let them be ready to do concerts again next weekend“, „How many do they have to die for a longer detention???“, „This is happening because no institution works properly!“ - are just some of the comments on social networks, quoted in the article, through which citizens express their outrage at the statement of the state prosecutor Ljubcho Kocevski.
Students of the Skopje University „St. Cyril and Methodius“ will hold an organized joint class today at 12:00 in the university area in an expression of sympathy for the victims who died in the fire in the disco in Kocani, the newspaper „Sloboden Pechat“ writes. There will be a place where students can light candles, express their grief in a condolence book, and leave flowers.