Disturbing new video footage shows when flames began to engulf an illegal nightclub in North Macedonia early Sunday morning — sparking a panicked stampede and killing 59 young partygoers.
The video from Club Pulse in the tiny Balkan nation shows pyrotechnics being used by a band performing on stage spark a blaze on the ceiling, which quickly spreads and sends hundreds dashing for the only exit — killing nearly five dozen people and leaving at least 150 others injured.
The footage shows several people in the audience pointing at the spreading flames while the band continues to play, unaware of the horrific tragedy beginning to unfold
The club was inside a former carpet warehouse, a squat building with a corrugated iron roof and one exit — which was locked during Sunday’s performance, officials said.
Local authorities said the nightclub was operating without a license and lacked even basic required safety features like sprinklers and multiple exits.
The fire has spread outrage in Europe and has the families of those killed or hurt calling for justice.
“I want everyone who helped this place carry on with its business to be jailed,” one 16-year-old said. “We need change because this is a corrupt country.”
One day after the deadly mishap, demonstrators gathered in the central square in the city of Kocani, holding signs reading, “Everything is legal here if you have connections,” and “We are not dying from accidents, we are dying from corruption.”
City resident Dragi Stojanov, whose 21-year-old son perished in the fire, shared his pain with reporters.
“He was my only child,” Stojanov wept outside the charred club. “I don’t need my life anymore. One hundred and fifty families have been devastated.”
The tragedy carries haunting reminders of similar nightclub tragedies in the US in past years.
In 2003, a fire at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island was sparked by pyrotechnics being used by the band Great White, killing 100 and injuring twice as many in one of the nation’s worst tragedies.
A blaze at the Happy Land social club in the Bronx in 1990 left 87 dead after a jilted lover set a blaze at the only entrance to get back at a worker at the club, trapping everyone inside.
With Post wires
