# Kočani nightclub fire

On 16 March 2025, a fire at the Pulse nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, killed at least 59 people. According to interior minister Panče Toškovski, the cause was pyrotechnics. The fire injured 196 people and many people were hospitalized in Kočani and other cities, domestically and abroad. It is the deadliest nightclub fire in Europe since the 2015 Bucharest nightclub fire and the deadliest fire in North Macedonia's history. Vigils and tributes were organized nationwide.
In the aftermath of the disaster there were many anti-corruption protests. The government ordered a three-day inspection of all nightclubs and cabarets in the country and many entertainment venues were shut down.

## Background

The building housing the nightclub was a single-story structure formerly used as a carpet warehouse. It was described as an "improvised nightclub" by local reporters and according to authorities, did not have a legal license to operate, but had been doing so for several years before the fire. An inspection after the fire revealed deficiencies in the fire-extinguishing and lighting systems. Additionally, only one effective exit was identified in the building, as the venue's back door was locked. Apart from being locked, the back door did not have a handle on the inside, was covered with drywall, and was lined with flammable soundproofing materials. The building was made of flammable drywall, had no fire alarms, and only a single fire extinguisher. The building did not have an emergency electricity disconnect. According to Toškovski, the building was only certified for light industry and not for catering, and there was no written contract between the band and the club owners. One resident of Kočani, who had worked in the building 20 years prior to the fire when it housed a textile factory, expressed confusion that such a small building could fit 500 people, and said that it had "very low ceilings".

## Fire

At 2:35 a.m. on 16 March 2025, about 500 people were attending a concert of Macedonian hip-hop duo DNK in the Pulse Nightclub in Kočani, though only 250 tickets were sold. Perpendicular sparkling gerbs or "stage fountains", a type of indoor firework, were lit during their performance. Their sparks ignited flammable acoustic foam sheets that burned across the roof structure, rapidly engulfing the entire venue in flames and toxic smoke.
Videos of the pyrotechnics and subsequent fire showed attempts to extinguish the flames, with some patrons observing the firefighting while others evacuated. One survivor said that she shouted at a group of children to leave the disco, but they laughed at her. Survivors reported a crowd crush when people rushed towards the club exits. One survivor described being trampled by the crowd after falling down the stairs. A band member urged the crowd to evacuate during the firefighting, stating: "Everyone get out, we'll be back". Some of the victims attempted to escape through the club's bathroom, but were met with barred windows.
The first call to emergency services was received at 2:48 a.m. Fire crews from nearby cities were also deployed. The rescue efforts were hampered by the inability of firetrucks to access the nightclub, as it was located in a densely populated neighborhood. Authorities rushed dozens of injured people to nearby hospitals in Štip, Kočani and Skopje. Bulgaria sent the military plane "Spartan" to transfer some of the victims to hospitals in Sofia and Varna.

## Casualties
### Deaths

As of 17 March 2025, 59 people aged between 14 and 24 were killed in the fire, with three of the victims being minors. This was the deadliest nightclub fire in Europe since the 2015 Bucharest nightclub fire, and the deadliest fire in North Macedonia's history, both caused by pyrotechnics. A hospital director in Kočani, Kristina Serafimovska, said most of the dead suffered injuries from the stampede of people trying to escape the club. Many victims were difficult to identify due to their lack of identification cards. An ambulance driver in Kočani, Ile Gočevski, who was transporting victims to the hospital throughout the day, died in his sleep on 17 March, a day after the fire, after he had returned home to rest. One of his colleagues wrote a social media post calling Macedonian ambulance drivers overworked and underpaid and praising Gočevski's actions. Macedonian Minister of Health Arben Taravari responded to the post, pledging to improve the working conditions and pay of ambulance drivers, and said that their work is often overlooked.
Of DNK, lead singer Andrej Gjorgieski, backing singer Sara Projkovska, drummer Gjorgji Gjorgiev and keyboard player Filip Stevanovski along with band photographer Aleksandar Efremov were all confirmed dead after the fire. Two other band members survived the initial fire, but died later in the afternoon. Vladimir Blažev, the other lead singer suffered burns to his face and hands and was provided with oxygen therapy, making him the only DNK survivor. Shortly after the fire, rumors spread on social media that Gjorgieski was alive and receiving treatment at his home, but his wife refuted them and requested that social media outlets refrain from posting disinformation and for her and her family's privacy to be respected.
A police officer at the club checking for drugs and minors was killed in the fire. KF Shkupi football player Andrej Lazarov suffered from smoke inhalation and burn injuries while trying to rescue club patrons, and died a short time after in the hospital. Damjan Taneski, a young football goalkeeper from Štip, and Petar Ivanovski, a basketball player for Basket Dino Delicacies from Kočani, were also among the victims of the fire.

### Injured

As many as 196 people were injured, including 20 minors. Some of those were hospitalized in hospitals of Kočani and Štip. Beside those, some were transported to the hospitals of Skopje. This includes 17 with severe burns who were taken to the St. Naum of Ohrid hospital, 49 to the Clinical Centre of Skopje, and 18 to the "September 8th" General Hospital, two of whom were in critical condition. The Kočani regional hospital was severely unequipped for the influx of victims, having only two ambulances and one van with a bed. Radio Kočani reported that the injured were left lying in the street, since there were not enough emergency vehicles to transport them all. Some of the victims were transported to the hospital by civilian bystanders. A brother of one of the victims said that there were corpses in the hospital corridors, and that he had to step over them to check on his injured sister. Due to the severity of the injuries as a result of burns and smoke inhalation, some of the injured were transferred to specialized units at hospitals and clinics in Skopje and Štip. By 17 March, all of the remaining patients at the Kočani general hospital had been transferred to clinics in Skopje. Since the drywall installed on the ceiling of the nightclub contained asbestos, a carcinogen, Minister of Health Taravari instructed the injured and anyone else who was at the scene of the fire to see a doctor because they may have inhaled the asbestos. According to Meri Cvetkovska, a professor of civil engineering at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, theories that the asbestos burnt are not true, as asbestos breaks under heat instead of burning. Doctor Bojan Trajkovski said that anyone that was inside the nightclub should be monitored for signs of mesothelioma for the rest of their lives.
On 16 and 17 March, some of the more severely injured persons were transferred to hospitals in other countries; Nine patients were transported to Turkey (three to Istanbul and six to Ankara), 14 patients were transported to Bulgaria (eight to Sofia and three each to Varna and Plovdiv). Five people were transferred to Thessaloniki, Greece. Twenty-nine of the injured were sent to four different hospitals in Serbia (Military Medical Academy and Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade, Niš Military Hospital and the Clinical Centre of Niš). Four patients were sent to Lithuania and two each to Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria. On 18 March, two injured patients were transported to Zagreb, Croatia, for further treatment.
On the evening of 17 March, Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić visited the injured at the Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade together with health minister Zlatibor Lončar and eleven photojournalists. The citizens of North Macedonia and Serbia on social media accused Vučić of using the occasion for PR and scoring political points. Vučić was photographed touching a patient with his bare hands, and later took off his medical mask while speaking to the press in front of a patient. Similarly, North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, accompanied by several other officials, visited the injured in Skopje hospitals on the evening of 17 March and again on 18 March, before their families were allowed to see them, and without all proper safety measures. One man in Mickoski's company was seen without a mask.

### International medical assistance

Bulgaria sent an Alenia C-27J Spartan military aircraft to transport eight of the most critically wounded victims to the Pirogov Hospital in Sofia and the Military-Medical Academy in Varna, while six more were transported with ambulances to Sofia and Plovdiv. The director of the Pirogov Hospital said that the hospital expects the death toll to rise, as all the victims of the fire that they have received are in "very poor condition", suffering burns to their respiratory tracts. On 18 March, the Bulgarian Red Cross, the Pirogov Hospital and the National Center for Transfusion Hematology organized a blood donation campaign to help the injured in Bulgaria, supported by the Military Medical Academy. By 19 March, more than 600 Bulgarians had donated blood in three different cities for the victims of the nighclub fire.
On 16 March, Serbia sent a CASA C-295 of the Serbian Air Force to pick up 12 of the most critically injured victims, who were transported to the Military-Medical Academy and the Clinical Centre of Serbia. Additionally, Serbia sent five ambulances with 14 medical personnel to assist crowded hospitals in North Macedonia. Two ambulances drove two of the most critically injured to Niš, where they were admitted to the Clinical Centre of Niš and the Niš Military Hospital, and three other ambulances drove to Belgrade, where an additional three injured were admitted to Military-Medical Academy and Clinical Centre of Serbia. An anesthesiologist at the Military Medical Academy, Goran Rondović, said that both patients that they received were in critical condition but were stable. Out of 10 patients transported to the Military Medical Academy, six were in the intensive care unit and four were receiving reconstructive surgery, as of 19 March. On 17 March, another Serbian Air Force CASA C-295 aircraft departed from Batajnica Air Base to transport 12 more injured for treating in Belgrade Military Medical Academy and the Clinical Centre of Serbia. Two injured were transported by ambulances to the Clinical Centre of Niš and the Niš Military Hospital.
A Romanian Air Force C-27J Spartan aircraft, configured for medical missions, departed on 17 March from Otopeni to carry out a humanitarian mission to transport four patients diagnosed with burns from Skopje to a hospital in Vilnius, Lithuania. Three more victims were transported to Turkey and three to Greece. In the Netherlands, burn centers in Groningen, Beverwijk and Rotterdam committed to providing medical assistance and shelter to victims. Slovenia sent a military aircraft to transport two burn victims to the Ljubljana University Medical Centre with another two being transported to the Maribor University Medical Centre. On 17 March, a Hellenic Air Force C-130 aircraft transported three critically injured victims in intensive care to a military hospital in Athens. According to Greek Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis, three hospitals in Athens and one in Thessaloniki were put on heightened alert. That same day, three flights took place from Vogler Air Force Base to Skopje with an Austrian Air Force Medevac C-130 Hercules to hospitals in Graz and Vienna. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced on 17 March that two Croatian Army helicopters would transport four of the wounded on 19 March to Croatia for treatment. On 17 March, Czechia announced the deployment of ten military medical personnel from the Central Military Hospital to North Macedonia after North Macedonia requested assistance. Belgium deployed its Belgian First Aid and Support team (B-FAST) to provide emergency medical aid to the victims of the fire on 19 March, taking four patients.

## Investigation

North Macedonia's Interior Minister, Panče Toškovski said that the nightclub's operating license was obtained as a result of corruption and bribery. Toškovski said that the homes of two former Ministry of Economy employees were searched, and technical equipment, documentation, weapons, ammunition were seized. On 18 March, Toškovski said that local police from Štip and Veles that were investigating the fire would be replaced with officers from Skopje, to ensure that "process proceeds without pressure, suspicion, or undue influence", but added that the decision does not "imply guilt" upon the local police officers. The government ordered a three-day inspection of all nightclubs and cabarets in the country. An inspection found significant safety violations at the Pulse Nightclub:
* The venue lacked basic fire safety equipment, including sufficient fire extinguishers and a functional fire alarm system.
* The club had only one accessible exit, as the back door was locked, severely hindering evacuation efforts during the fire.
* The building had undergone unauthorized modifications, including the use of illegal soundproofing materials, which may have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.
At a press conference on 17 March, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski announced that only 12 legal licenses for nightclubs had been issued throughout the country, and the Pulse Nightclub was not one of them. Just one day later, the government spokesperson announced that there were in fact 22 legal licenses, out of 50 inspected establishments. A further 15 of the 50 did not have licenses or had expired licenses. As a result, many nightclubs and entertainment venues were shut down. Three licensed nightclubs were closed down and their licenses were revoked after investigations found numerous deficiencies. Police visited all 12 companies in North Macedonia that are licensed to handle pyrotechnics.

## Legal

At least 20 people were arrested. Former Ministry of Economy State Secretary Razmena Čekić Đurović was arrested after investigators discovered she signed the forged license the nightclub was operating under. The owner of the nightclub, Dejan "Deko" Jovanov, was arrested after attempting to escape to a neighboring country. Jovanov's son was also arrested. Seven police officers were arrested who allegedly "prepared, signed, and approved" a consent form for the nightclub to obtain a catering license, even though the club did not meet the minimum requirements to do so.
A tank filled with 10 tonnes (11 tons) of diesel was found approximately 50 metres (160 ft) from the nightclub, belonging to the owner, which could have caused a major explosion. On 17 March, Kreshnik Bekteshi, the former Minister of Economy, and the former director of the State Market Inspectorate, Goran Trajkovski, were also arrested. Bekteshi was questioned at a police station in Skopje and was brought to testify before a pre-trial judge on 17 March.

## Reactions
### Domestic

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski expressed deep sadness over the nightclub fire, saying the loss of so many young lives was irreparable, and that the government was fully mobilised to help determine the cause of the fire. President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova visited some of the fire victims in hospitals and met with their relatives. She called for punishment for those responsible for the fire and said, "Nothing is worthier than human life, specifically young life." The mayor of Kočani, Ljupčo Papazov, resigned on 17 March. In a social media post announcing his resignation, he called for a thorough investigation into the fire and for national unity amongst Macedonians. Minister of Health Arben Taravari said that representatives would be appointed to inform parents of the victims transported outside the country of their relatives' condition every four to five hours.
Seven days of national mourning were declared for the victims. The Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services advised the media to "broadcast/publish content that, in terms of its media function, corresponds to the days of mourning", and stipulated that the broadcasted music should be from "musical genres appropriate for days of mourning", all comedic and entertainment shows should be postponed, and that advertisements should not be shown during the days of mourning. They also temporarily lifted a requirement that broadcasters broadcast a certain percentage of Macedonian music, for the duration of the period of mourning. Minister of Culture and Tourism, Zoran Ljutkov [mk], announced the cancellation of all cultural activities conducted by the Ministry of Culture and its national institutions scheduled for the next week. He offered his support to the victims and their relatives, and said that all cultural institutions in Skopje will provide support if necessary. The Macedonian National Theater announced the cancellation of all performances scheduled between 17 and 22 March, and that relatives of the victims in Skopje to visit their injured relatives in hospital would be provided with accommodation in the theater's dressing rooms and suites. In Skopje, many hotels and restaurants offered free accommodation and food for the relatives of victims being treated in Skopje. The Macedonian government opened a hotline for psychological support for the victims and their families. The Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services announced a ден 1,500,000 donation to the Macedonian Red Cross [mk]'s Solidarity Fund to assist the victims of the fire. The students' union of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University donated the ден 415,724 that they collected at student gatherings to the fund.
The funerals of the victims will be held on 20 March, in Štip, Kočani, and Obleševo. The Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services requested that the media "adhere to the highest professional and ethical standards" while reporting on the funerals.

#### Protests and memorials

In Kočani, there was a candlelight vigil. KF Shkupi paid tribute to Andrej Lazarov in a club statement. In the wake of the fire, a series of spontaneous protests unfolded across the country. That evening, citizens began gathering in city squares including Kočani, Štip, Vinica, Strumica, and Gevgelija to mourn and seek justice. The following day, 17 March, saw peaceful protests and tributes nationwide. In Kočani, the protest intensified when some citizens, primarily youths, threw eggs, glass bottles and other objects at the municipal building, damaging the façade and breaking windows. The police blocked them from entering the building. They called for the appearance of Mayor Ljupčo Papazov, who had already stepped down. A group then vandalized the "Klasik" café bar and a vehicle owned by the same individual associated with "Pulse." Protesters approached the Kočani police station, confronting officers without major incidents. A crowd overturned a car belonging to the owner of the Pulse Nightclub and tried to set his house on fire. Police tried to calm the situation by telling the crowd that there were children inside the building, but the crowd responded that no one prevented the deaths of the child victims of the fire. On 18 March, a crowd approached Papzov's house and attempted to breach the police barrier so that they could pelt the house with stones, but a priest pacified them, saying "Let's save the children first, then we'll burn down the city if you want."
In Štip, students rallied, demanding accountability for the disaster that claimed five of their fellow residents. The demonstration began in the city square and moved towards the municipal building. At noon, thousands of students in Skopje observed a seven-minute silence at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje to honor the 59 lives lost. Speeches by Education Minister Vesna Janevska [mk] and Rector Biljana Angelova were briefly interrupted when two attendees collapsed, requiring medical attention. Students began to whistle and shout at Janevska, interrupting her speech, and riot police surrounded her. Strumica also witnessed a peaceful gathering in its city square, with participants demanding justice for the fire victims. Gjorgji Gjorgiev, the drummer of the band DNK, was among the deceased; he hailed from Strumica. Additional peaceful protests occurred in Bitola, Kavadarci, Probištip, Tetovo, Veles, and other cities. The next day, 18 March, a public gathering was scheduled in Ohrid, as well as a student gathering at 18:00 (CET) on Macedonia Square in Skopje.
On 18 March, rallies were held in every city across the republic to honor the deceased and demand justice and accountability for the victims of the fire. The demonstrations, primarily organized by students and high schoolers, drew participants of all ages.
A massive rally took place at Macedonia Square, gathering several thousand citizens. Following the protest, seven media workers, including journalists from Reuters, were detained at the Centar police station. Authorities justified their detention by claiming they had been broadcasting live drone footage and the usage of drones was banned, although there was no timely notice. A similar incident occurred in Kočani, where a crew from the Bulgarian television station BTV was also detained for operating a drone.

### International

Politicians from the European Union, Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates expressed their condolences over the loss of life and offered support to the Macedonian authorities.
Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople also sent their condolences. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Serbia declared 18 March a national day of mourning in solidarity with North Macedonia. Montenegro also declared a day of mourning on 17 March. Macedonian health minister Arben Taravari acknowledged receiving offers of assistance from neighboring countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia.