On 16 March 2025, a fire at the Pulse nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, killed 63 people and injured 193. The fire started when sparks from indoor fireworks hit the ceiling and set it alight, rapidly enveloping the venue in thick and toxic smoke. The nightclub was unlicensed and broke numerous safety standards: among other things, it lacked sprinklers and sufficient emergency exits and only had a single fire extinguisher. Rescue efforts were hampered by the nightclub's location in a densely populated neighbourhood, which caused firetrucks difficulty in reaching it.
Local hospitals were severely ill-equipped to deal with the influx of victims, with some left lying in the street due to an insufficient number of ambulances. Many of them suffered severe burns, smoke inhalation, and crush injuries after the crowd rushed for the exits. In response to the fire, the European Union (EU) activated its Civil Protection Mechanism to coordinate the air evacuation of victims, many of whom were transported for treatment in EU member states.
As of March 2025, it is the deadliest nightclub fire in Europe since the 2015 Bucharest nightclub fire and the deadliest fire in North Macedonia's history. The government ordered a three-day inspection of all nightclubs and cabarets in the country, and many entertainment venues were shut down. Government officials, including several ministers and police officers, were arrested as part of the investigation into how the nightclub was given a licence. Vigils and tributes were organised nationwide. In the aftermath of the disaster, there were numerous anti-corruption protests.
Background
The nightclub was situated in a building 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 licence to operate but had been doing so for several years before the fire. According to interior minister Panče Toškovski, the building was only certified for light industry and not catering. One resident of Kočani, who had worked there 20 years prior when it housed a textile factory, said she was surprised that such a small building could fit 500 people.
Fire
At 2:35 am on 16 March 2025, about 650 people were attending a concert of Macedonian hip-hop duo DNK in the Pulse Nightclub, although only 250 tickets were sold. The club was filled with twice its legal capacity. Perpendicular sparkling gerbs, a type of indoor firework, were lit by DNK during their performance at approximately 2:32 am. Their sparks ignited flammable acoustic foam sheets that burnt 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, and some victims were trampled to death while trying to escape the club. 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. A 19-year-old, Jovan Kostadinov, rescued 21 people from the club.
The first call to emergency services was received at 2:48 am. 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 neighbourhood. Authorities rushed dozens of injured people to nearby hospitals in Štip, Kočani and Skopje.
Casualties
Deaths
At least 63 people aged between 16 and 48 died from the fire, with six victims being minors. This was the deadliest nightclub fire in Europe since the 2015 Bucharest nightclub fire (also caused by pyrotechnics) and the deadliest fire in North Macedonia's history. A hospital director in Kočani, Kristina Serafimovska, said most of the dead suffered injuries from the stampede of people trying to escape the club. Per the director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Aleksandar Stankov, the main causes of death of 59 victims were "violent asphyxiation from carbon monoxide poisoning, ambient asphyxiation, compressive asphyxiation and thermal damage to the respiratory organs", while 4 died from damage to the lungs and burns. Many victims were difficult to identify due to their lack of identification cards, with only half of them possessing identity documents. Ile Gocevski, an ambulance driver in Kočani who was transporting victims to the hospital through the day, died in his sleep on 17 March, a day after the fire, after he returned home to rest. He died of a heart attack caused by overexertion after completing 11 hospital runs overnight. A colleague wrote a social media post calling Macedonian ambulance drivers overworked and underpaid and praising Gocevski'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.
Andrej Gjorgjieski, one of DNK's lead singers, was confirmed dead along with the band's photographer Aleksandar Efremov, backing singer Sara Projkovska, drummer Gjorgji Gjorgiev, and keyboard player Filip Stevanovski. 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; he was the only survivor from DNK. He later died on 14 October, succumbing to his injuries, and raising the number of deaths to 63. Shortly after the fire, rumours spread on social media that Gjorgjieski was alive and receiving treatment at his home, but his wife denied them and requested that social media outlets refrain from posting misinformation and for her and her family's privacy to be respected. Per witnesses and his manager, Gjorgjieski returned to rescue the people inside the club and died when the roof collapsed upon him, killing him instantly. Another backing singer, Ana Kostadinovska, was injured in the fire and received treatment at her home; she was initially reported missing.
A police officer at the club checking for drugs and minors died as a result of 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. Lazarov's mother said that he suffocated after falling off a bench in a hospital in Štip while waiting for treatment. 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.
Parents of some of the victims said that hospitals did not provide adequate medical attention to their children, leading to their deaths. A mother of a victim said that she was informed that her daughter was being treated in Skopje, but when she and her family arrived there, they were told she was actually in a hospital in Kočani. They were blocked from entering the room by the police and later learnt of her death. According to the mother, oxygen had likely not been administered to her daughter, even though she was in critical condition, since the Kočani hospital did not have any supply of medicinal oxygen.
Injuries
193 people were injured, including 20 minors. At least 72 people were hospitalised within North Macedonia, with some of those being hospitalised in Kočani and Štip, while 101 others were confirmed to have been taken abroad for treatment. Besides 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 8 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 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 specialised 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. Doctor Bojan Trajkovski said that anyone who 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), and 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, as well as 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 patients were transported to Zagreb, Croatia, for further treatment. Four injured patients were transported to hospitals in Italy on a special Italian Air Force flight that landed in Milan. One of the patients in Lithuania died on 4 April, while a second patient died on 7 April.
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, 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 proper safety measures. One man in Mickoski's company was seen without a mask.
International medical assistance
In response to the disaster, the European Union activated its Civil Protection Mechanism and coordinated air evacuation. On 16 March, 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 she 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, one more patient was admitted for treatment in Pirogov Hospital, and the Macedonian authorities were offered to admit ten more people for treatment. That same day, the Bulgarian Red Cross, Pirogov Hospital, and the National Center for Transfusion Hematology organised 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 cities for the victims of the 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 the Military Medical Academy and the Clinical Centre of Serbia. An anaesthesiologist at the Military Medical Academy, Goran Rondović, said that both patients that they received were in critical condition but stable. Out of ten patients transported to the Military Medical Academy, six were in the intensive care unit and four were receiving reconstructive surgery. As of 19 March, 30 of the most critically injured are being treated in Serbian hospitals, transported via both air and ground.