site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria Mourns Victims in Kocani, Republic of North Macedonia

Bulgaria mourns the victims of the tragic events in the city of Kocani, Republic of North Macedonia. On Tuesday, in memory of the deceased, the national flags of state institutions have been lowered to half-mast, after the Bulgarian Council of Ministers declared March 18 a National Day of Mourning. The government expressed its condolences to the families of the victims.

A total of 59 people died and 155 suffered varying degrees of burns and injuries after a fire broke out at the Pulse disco in Kocani, eastern North Macedonia, during a concert by the popular band DNK in the early hours of Sunday. The fire was caused by sparks from pyrotechnics used for lighting effects at the concert. Hundreds of people rushed to the only exit as flames engulfed the roof of the building.

Fourteen of the victims of the fire have been admitted for treatment in Bulgaria.

The eight patients hospitalized at Pirogov Emergency Hospital are on mechanical ventilation and remain in intensive care.

The three patients being treated at the Naval Medical Academy in Varna are in serious condition. Two are on mechanical ventilation, and one is receiving oxygen through a nasal mask.

The condition of those at St. George University Hospital in Plovdiv remains serious but stable, with treatment continuing in the intensive care unit.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev told journalists in Sofia that both Bulgaria and North Macedonia are in mourning over the youths who lost their lives in Sunday's fire in Kocani. "We share the pain of the loss of innocent human lives and the hope for the speedy recovery of the injured," he added. Radev and Vice President Iliana Iotova visited the Embassy of North Macedonia in Sofia to express their condolences in the mourning book there over the tragedy in Kocani. Radev thanked the Bulgarian medical teams and servicepersons for their quick response and professionalism in transporting the injured and providing specialized medical assistance.

National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova told reporters: "Bulgaria mourns with the brotherly people of North Macedonia." She visited the Embassy of North Macedonia to offer condolences for the victims of the nightclub fire in Kocani. "This sorrow reminds us that during tragic times, we need to support one another," Kiselova said, hoping that the grief will be more bearable despite the great loss.

Speaking to reporters at Sofia's Pirogov Emergency Hospital, Bulgaria’s Health Minister Silvi Kirilov said: “We conducted a timely evacuation of the injured, I’d say most of them children, and they were hospitalized in Bulgaria before the evacuation of the other injured had even started.” Kirilov, his North Macedonian counterpart Arben Taravari, and Foreign Ministers Georg Georgiev of Bulgaria and Timco Mucunski of North Macedonia visited victims of the March 16 nightclub fire in Kocani treated in the hospital.

“We are happy to have achieved this result,” Kirilov said. “We have never hesitated whether to help or not. The first and only thought was how to quickly organize the evacuation and create the perfect conditions for the transportation of the patients who are in critical condition, on artificial ventilation, and might deteriorate at any time,” Kirilov explained.

North Macedonia’s Health Minister Arben Taravari thanked Bulgaria following a fire that broke out in the early hours of Sunday in the town of Kocani, leaving 59 dead and more than 150 injured. “I would like to thank our neighbour Bulgaria, the Health Ministry, the President and the whole Bulgarian people for this solidarity, which really leaves a strong mark in our country,” Taravari told a news conference at Sofia's Pirogov Emergency Hospital.

Taravari said: "First of all, I would like to thank Bulgaria’s Health Minister, as the tragedy occurred on Sunday, around 3am, and by 8:30am I was already in contact with Minister Silvi Kirilov, who was the first Health Minister to call me. That day, I spoke with some 15 health ministers from the region and other neighbouring and friendly countries. I would also like to thank the President of Bulgaria, who was in regular communication with the President of North Macedonia, and the Bulgarian Prime Minister, who was in constant contact with his counterpart in Skopje. I am also grateful for the condition of the patients at the Pirogov hospital."

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev assured his counterpart of North Macedonia, Timco Mucunski, that Bulgaria is ready to provide additional assistance in the current difficult moment.

"The Bulgarian government remains ready to provide additional assistance to its friends and neighbours if they need it at this difficult time," Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev told Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Timco Mucunski, who was in Sofia Tuesday on a short visit, together with the Minister of Health, Dr. Arben Taravari, to see for themselves the condition of the people admitted for treatment in Bulgaria, who were injured in the serious accident in the town of Kocani, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Blood donation campaigns for the fire victims in Bulgarian hospitals were held in Sofia, Kazanlak, Blagoevgrad, Veliko Tarnovo and other parts of the country. "This is the most meaningful thing that can be done at this nightmarish moment, to help in the most adequate way," said Kazanlak Mayor Galina Stoyanova, adding that Kocani and Kazanlak are twin cities.

By noon, nearly 100 people donated blood at the Military Medical Academy (MMA) in Sofia alone, the MMA said. 

The blood drive will be on on Wednesday as well.