BBC:
Police have detained 15 people after a fire at an nightclub in North Macedonia killed at least 59 people, officials have said.
The blaze broke out around 02:30 local time (01:30 GMT) on Sunday at the Pulse club in Kocani, where about 500 people had gathered for a concert by DNK, a popular hip-hop duo in the country.
Only one member of the band survived and was being treated in hospital, a spokesman for the public prosecutors office told the BBC’s Newshour. In total, 155 were injured at the concert.
Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said the detainees will be questioned, adding that there are “grounds for suspicion that there is bribery and corruption” linked to the fire.
He said that the venue did not have a legal licence to operate.
The venue, in a town around 100km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje, has been described as an “improvised nightclub” in the local press, having previously been a carpet warehouse.
Ms Arsovska said there had been only “one efficient exit” in the building, as the venue’s back door was locked and could not be used.
The first on-site inspections on Sunday had also showed several “abnormalities” in the venue. “There are deficiencies in the system for fire-extinguishing and the system for lightning,” she said.
Citing initial reports, Toskovski said the fire had been started by sparks from pyrotechnic devices that had hit the ceiling, which was made of highly flammable material.
