51 dead and more than 100 injured in nightclub fire in North Macedonia

c/world · u/MicroWave@lemmy.world · 161 points

**Summary**

A fire at the Pulse nightclub in Kocani, North Macedonia, killed 51 people and injured over 100 during a concert early Sunday.

Authorities say pyrotechnics ignited the roof, causing chaos as attendees fled. Many victims suffered severe burns and were transported to hospitals across the country.

Officials are investigating safety violations, and one person has been arrested. Leaders from the EU, Albania, and Ukraine expressed condolences.

Comments

u/robbinhood@lemmy.world · 1 points

Punishment as deterrent is often pretty questionable, but this is a case where I think it could help. Any business owners who ignore things like fire safety regulations should face substantial sentences IMO.

I'd go as far as to say any business owner found to be blatantly violating serious safety regulations during an inspection should face a few days in jal.

u/catloaf@lemm.ee · 13 points

We will not.

For the owners, it's risk vs. reward. The actual incidence rate of a fire like this is pretty low, when you consider the number of nightclubs around the world. So, they can skimp on fire safety and pocket that money instead, and will probably never have a fire event.

This is why we need fire code, inspections, enforcement, and consequences. Because while the nightclub owner may not care too much about the lives of the people that died, I sure care about mine.

u/IndustryStandard@lemmy.world · 2 points

The risk of burning alive is what makes it fun

u/deranger@sh.itjust.works · 5 points

Also, a ceiling coated with highly flammable material

u/TimeNaan@lemmy.world · 3 points

This exact situation has repeated itself all over the world many times already and it will keep happening because nightclubs are shady af.

u/deranger@sh.itjust.works · 4 points

You know, I didn't even realize that when my pre-coffee morning brain wrote my comment.

u/rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee · 2 points

>Pulse might not be the Titanic of clubs, but apparently *naming* your club Pulse is about as lucky as naming your ship the Titanic.

That's what that means

u/MightBeAlpharius@lemmy.world · 9 points

...Wait a second, that shooting was at a *different* nightclub named Pulse.

Pulse might not be the Titanic of clubs, but apparently *naming* your club Pulse is about as lucky as naming your ship the Titanic.

u/deranger@sh.itjust.works · 15 points

Pulse shooting - 49 dead, 53 injured

The Station nightclub fire - 100 dead, 230 injured

Pulse shooting doesn’t even make the top 20 of nightclub disasters - fire is much more of a threat, apparently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nightclub_fires

u/Amanduh@lemm.ee · 3 points

Look up the station nightclub fire

u/Nougat@fedia.io · 3 points

If only they’d stop buying from Ted’s Second Hand Only Lightly Singed Nightclub Signage.

u/poopkins@lemmy.world · 34 points

pyrotechnics likely caused the roof to catch fire

Will we never learn?

I was going to comment on how this tragedy is a reminder of the lessons not learned from The Station, but AP actually links to an article that curates the many repetitions of this kind of incident. This should be required reading for all night club staff.

u/rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee · 27 points

I think pulse is the titanic of nightclubs.

u/pntha@lemmy.world · 7 points

awful. sounds eerily similar to the Station nightclub fire, both catalysts being pyrotechnic displays