"[I knew] five or six, one of those was killed,” said Kocani resident Mihail Gavrilov. “It's devastating for the entire city and the entire country.”
Simeon Sokolov, 50, found his daughter Anastasija in 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 neighbouring Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece for treatment, authorities from those countries said.
Condolences flooded in from global leaders, including EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Pope Francis.
INVESTIGATION
North Macedonia's public prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said five prosecutors would investigate the incident.
“At the moment, orders have been issued to collect evidence” and 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.
After visiting the injured in a hospital in Skopje, North Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, dressed in black and fighting tears, said authorities would do everything to help all those affected.
“I simply cannot comprehend this ... what a disaster, what a tragedy.”
Reuters