Death toll from North Macedonia nightclub fire rises to 59

At least 59 people have been killed and more than 155 injured in a nightclub fire in North Macedonia, officials say.

The blaze broke out around 02:30 (01:30 GMT) at the Pulse club in Kocani, a town around 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje, where 1,500 people were attending a concert by DNK, a popular hip-hop duo in the country.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski called it a “difficult and very sad day” for the country which had now lost so many “young lives.”

Arrest warrants have been issued for four people, interior minister Pance Toskovski said at the scene, without giving any details. He had announced the arrest of a man earlier.

Toskovski has also said that, according to initial reports, the fire had been started by sparks from pyrotechnic devices that had hit the ceiling, which was made of highly flammable material.

Footage shows the band playing on stage when two flares go off, sparks then catch fire on the ceiling before rapidly spreading.

Video verified by the BBC shows people trying to extinguish the flames on the ceiling.

It shows the club was still full and people appeared to be watching efforts to put out the fire, rather than leaving.

Marija Taseva, 20, told Channel 5 TV she was caught in a crush at the club as people rushed for the exits. She said she fell to the ground and was trampled in the chaos before managing to get out.

Her family were still searching for her 25-year-old sister, though, who had not been found in any local hospital – and may have been transferred to Skopje for treatment.

The interior minister had earlier announced a death toll of 51 – with some 100 injured.

In his update, he said 35 of the deceased had already been identified.

Kocani’s hospital director said earlier that staff had been struggling to identify patients due to a lack of ID cards.

However she went on to say that those deceased were aged between of 14 and 24.

Eighteen patients are said to be in critical condition.

In a statement, the prime minister said the government was “fully mobilised and will do everything necessary to deal with the consequences and determine the causes of this tragedy.”

DNK was formed in 2002 and has topped the charts over the past decade.

Additional reporting from Richard Irvine-Brown.