London and Belgrade – It is believed that dozens of people died in a fire in a nightclub in the city of Kocani in southern Macedonia in northern Macedonia, local authorities said on Sunday.
Associated Press reported that 51 people were killed and at least 118 hospitalized in the incident, citing the comments of Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski to journalists.
A supply operator at the Kocani General Hospital told ABC News: “It’s a catastrophic tragedy.”
They did not provide more information about the number or status of the victims.
Emergency responders operate outside a nightclub, after a fire that resulted in victims, in the city of Kocani, North Macedonia, on March 16, 2025.
Ognien Teofilovski/Reuters
The DNK band manager, which was presented at the nightclub when the fire exploded, told ABC News that the place had a maximum capacity of 500 to 700 people.
The band, which consists of eight members, was acting at the time of the fire and some of them were among the injured, said the manager.
As more details of the incident arose, the families of the young people who attended the concert, some of them minors, requested information about social networks, shared telephone numbers and personal details with the hope that those who are still missing can be found.
The fire began around 2:35 am, Toshkovski said, saying that the roof of the place was burned by the pyrotechnics used by the clubbers.
Toshkovski said the police arrested a man, but gave no more details.
This photograph shows a view of a burnt nightclub in which a fire broke out and killed 51 people in Kocani, a city about 100 kilometers east of the Skopje capital, on March 16, 2025.
Robert Atanasovski/AFP through Getty Images
Northern Macedonia Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote in X: “The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the pain of families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable.”
“The government is completely mobilized and will do everything necessary to deal with the consequences and determine the causes of this tragedy,” Mickoski added. “In these times of deep sadness, when our hearts are broken in pain due to this terrible tragedy, I ask for unity, solidarity, humanity and responsibility.”
Among those who offered the condolences from abroad were Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “I would like those who were injured a rapid recovery,” he wrote in a publication to X. “Ukraine cries next to our [North] Macedonian friends on this sad day. “
Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, said his nation was ready “to provide assistance that may be necessary.”
The European commissioner for the expansion Marta Kos said in X that she was “deeply sad” for the “terrible tragedy.”
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
Somayeh Malekian of ABC News contributed to this report.
