At least 59 people have been killed and 155 others injured after a fire broke out a nightclub in North Macedonia on March 16.
They were watching DNK, a popular hip-hop duo in the country.
People desperately tried to escape the flames but there was only one exit for around 500 people, as the only other door at the back of the venue was locked.
Police have detained 15 people, with Interior Minister Pance Toskovski saying that there are “grounds for suspicion that there is bribery and corruption” linked to the fire.
Those detained include the owner of the venue and former government officials.
PM Hristijan Mickoski has said there will be “no mercy”, regardless of political rank or party affiliation.
The fire started around 02:30 local time on March 16 when sparks from pyrotechnic devices hit the ceiling, which was made of highly flammable material, Toskovski said.
Described as an “improvised nightclub” by the local press, the venue, located in a town around 60 miles east of the capital, Skopje, did not have a legal licence to operate, Toskovski said.
It had previously been a carpet warehouse, and police are investigating.
“Most of the dead suffered injuries from the stampede that occurred in the panic while trying to exit,” the head of the Kocani hospital, Kristina Serafimovska, told reporters.
“Seventy of the patients have burns and carbon monoxide poisoning,” she said, according to AFP news agency.
Vladislav Gruev, a specialist in reconstructive and plastic surgery at the University Clinic for Surgical Diseases, has been treating survivors.
“Most of them have extensive burn injuries, above 18% surface body area, second and third degree burns on the head, neck, upper torso, and upper limbs – hands and fingers,” he said.
Inspections on march 16 showed several “abnormalities” in the venue, including “deficiencies” in the fire-extinguishing and lighting system, said public prosecutor’s office spokesman Biljana Arsovska.
Speaking outside the hospital, Red Cross volunteer Mustafa Saidov said the majority of those who died were young people.
“Inside where they are identifying the victims, the situation is far worse. You see that the parents are also quite young people, in their 40s. Their children are 18 or 20 years old.”
“The situation is brutal, chaotic, the stories are very sad, and unfortunately many young lives are lost.”
One man, whose nephew was injured in the fire, said some people have been unable to locate their children.
The most seriously injured were being taken for treatment in specialist clinics in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Turkey, she added.
The government has declared seven days of national mourning, and it will hold an emergency session as part of ongoing investigations into how the incident unfolded.
