'I was saved, my sister died'

The human cost of the North Macedonia nightclub fire is emerging as claims of safety violations and corruption unfold

- RACHEL CLUN

For 19-year-old Marija Taseva and her sister, it was meant to be a fun night out to see hip-hop band DNK in the North Macedonian town of Kocani.

But it ended with her sister being killed and Marija barely escaping with her life, as a fire in the early hours of Sunday morning tore through the packed show at Club Pulse, leaving 59 people dead and more than 150 injured from burns, smoke inhalation and being trampled in the panicked escape for the building’s single exit.

Tearing up as she sat outside a hospital, Marija said: “There are many dead. It’s terrible. My sister died. I was saved, and she wasn’t.” “Some people suffocated there, some people stayed in the disco and they couldn’t get out,” she said.

Describing her escape, Marija said: “Everyone started screaming and shouting: “Get out, get out!’” “I don’t know how, but I ended up on the ground. I couldn’t get up, and at that moment people started stomping on me,” she told Reuters. “I barely stayed alive and I could barely breathe.”

Incredibly, Marija ended up only being treated for relatively minor injuries to her face and body. A video on social media of DNK’s concert in Sofia, Bulgaria, the night before the tragedy in North Macedonia, showed a pyrotechnics display during their set.

But the next night, sparks from the pyrotechnics in Club Pulse ignited a fire on the ceiling, leading to the blaze which brought down the roof of the venue.