Description: In a fire caused by pyrotechnic devices more than 59 people died and around 155 were injured from burns and smoke inhalation in the small town of Kocani, North Macedonia. The fire broke out around 02:30 AM after which panic ensued, and a stampede left the only exit from the building blocked causing the death and injuries of more than 200 people. Interior Minister Pance Toskovski had stated the place had been previously used as a carpet storage depot and hadn’t had the proper business and safety licenses, citing corruption concerns, after 15 people were arrested. Neighboring countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey supported North Macedonia where plenty of the injured were transferred to the neighboring hospitals while Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski announced a 7 – day mourning period. The devastating tragedy highlighted the country’s decadent systemic issues with corruption from which the nation suffered one of its biggest losses of life in its history.
Impact: The tragedy highlighted North Macedonia’s constant issues with systemic corruption from which the loss of civilian life was devastating. The deadly event emphasized problems within the country’s civil safety and security inspections and institutions within the outdated infrastructure due to interpersonal connections between the country’s business society and highly placed government individuals. North Macedonia’s losing battle with corruption comes at the heaviest price of human life loss as the government had only reacted repressively so far in similar tragedies such as the tragic bus accident in the village of Laskarci in 2019 and the fire that broke out in the modular hospital in Tetovo in 2021. The need for eliminating corruption and inflicting change on the country’s socio – economic system should cause larger civil moments and protests against the country’s checkered political landscape, as the public’s natural response to the catastrophic tragedy.