The nightclub fire tragedy that claimed the lives of 59 people in North Macedonia led to the resignation of the Mayor of Kochani, Ljupco Papazov.

Mayor Papazov announced his resignation irreversibly from the position of Mayor of Kochani in the toughest moments for our country and me through a post on his social media account. He wrote, “This is a huge loss. There are no words to describe the pain we feel. Those children were our children. I knew most of them, I knew their families, and some were family friends.”

A national mourning period of 7 days was declared in North Macedonia following the incident, where a pyrotechnic device caused a fire in the nightclub in Kochani located approximately 100 kilometers from the capital city of Skopje on March 16 at 03:00 local time. The fire resulted in the loss of 59 lives, with 155 others injured, 22 of them severely. Last night, 9 of the injured were transferred to Istanbul and Ankara for treatment using ambulance planes sent by Turkey.