North Macedonia declared a national mourning period Monday, lowering flags to half-mast and planning memorials for the 59 victims of a devastating nightclub fire over the weekend.
The blaze at the hip-hop concert in the eastern town of Kocani also injured around 155 people and triggered an outpouring of grief in the small Balkan country, where authorities vowed an investigation.
The fire started as a crowd of young fans packed into Club Pulse to attend the performance by a popular hip-hop duo called DNK, with the blaze apparently ignited by fireworks onstage.
One of DNK's singers, Andrej Gjorgjieski, was killed and the other, Vladimir Blazev, was injured, while a guitarist, a drummer and a back-up singer also died.
More than 20 people were under investigation over the incident, 15 of whom were already in police custody, while others were in hospital, according to the interior minister.
The list of suspects includes the club's owner, the event organizer and security people.
A former director of the rescue services and a state secretary at the Economy Ministry were also among those detained.
On Sunday, the head of the Kocani hospital, Kristina Serafimovska, said that many of the dead "suffered injuries from the stampede that occurred in the panic while trying to exit."
The government later announced a seven-day mourning period.
"Let us unite our forces, let us not allow anyone else to sacrifice standards for profit, nothing is more valuable than the lives of young people," North Macedonia's president Gordana Siljanovska told the nation late Sunday.
Videos posted on social networks and shot before the fire showed there were "stage fountains" set up – a type of indoor fireworks used during performances.
Other videos showed huge flames emerging from the building, a two-storey white structure in Kocani, a town with 30,000 residents.
Support from countries across Europe also flooded in, with several patients in critical condition transferred to hospitals abroad.
