A dozen people have been arrested following a devastating fire at a nightclub in North Macedonia that claimed 59 lives, with investigations at the site still ongoing, local officials said on Monday.
The fire broke out at the nightclub in Kocani Municipality in the early hours of Sunday morning, killing 59 people and injuring 163, including 45 in critical condition.
North Macedonia's Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski said on Monday that those arrested include managers, security personnel and ticketing staff at the nightclub.
The Mayor of Kocani Municipality, Ljupco Papazov, announced his resignation following the tragedy and expressed his willingness to be investigated.
Preliminary investigations showed that the blaze was triggered by a pyrotechnics display used by a live band who were performing on stage at the club. The fireworks used onstage were brought by the band, and the person responsible for operating them had died in the accident.
Hundreds gathered in Kocani's town center on Sunday evening to silently pay their respects, lighting candles to honor those who perished in the fire.
The small town of 30,000 people is struggling to come to terms with the scale of the tragedy, while North Macedonia has declared seven days of national mourning.
Dozen arrested after nightclub fire kills 59 in North Macedonia
The 17 strategies to counter so-called "threats" from the Chinese mainland facing Taiwan unveiled recently by Lai Ching-te were aiming to dismiss the Kuomintang (KMT) Party's representatives in the legislature, and thus fulfilling his own political agenda, said experts.
At a press conference last Thursday, Lai portrayed the mainland as a "hostile external force" and outlined 17 strategies to counter so-called threats facing the island.
What Lai did is to solve his current dilemma that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been the minority both in popular support and legislative seats, experts noted.
"He wants to remove all the Kuomintang (KMT) Party's regional representatives, and then the DPP representatives can be elected, so as to reverse the situation that the DPP is a minority in the legislature. So how to rationalize that? He chooses to resist reunification. His consistent policies and acts, including what he did this time, have always been carried out to meet the DPP's own selfish interests, and to serve his political interests," said Yan Anlin, president of the Shanghai Taiwan Research Association. According to the latest opinion polls on the island, 58 percent of the public oppose the removal of KMT representatives, which is 25 percentage points more than those in favor.
Lai Ching-te's acts aim to fulfill selfish interests: expert
