The pyrotechnics in the Pulse nightclub were set up after I arrived, said student Tea from Shtip in her testimony into the trial for the Pulse nightclub fire, who arrived with her friends at the Kochani-based nightclub on the critical night on March 16.
At the entrance, as the witness stated, there were two security guards, and their table was set up in front of the band, in close proximity to the stage.
In her testimony before the court, she said that pyrotechnics were set up during the evening, during which she reacted to her friend that they were too close to the guests. While she was recording with her phone, she noticed that a fire started after a minute.
“We saw sparks and that the ceiling was on fire. We did not immediately take it seriously, but when a member of the band called for us to leave, I headed for the exit, the witness said.
According to the testimony, at the moment of the evacuation, there was a big push, and an explosion right behind her. She said that she got stuck between the entrance and exit doors, after which she began to have difficulty breathing.
“I was already lying down, helpless. I asked for help. My friend, who I was holding by the hand, was next to me,” she said and added that a security guard named Stojancho pulled her out and waited for her parents to arrive. The witness added that previously, when she visited the club, there had been cases of pyrotechnics being used, as well as that she had entered the establishment when she was a minor.
When asked by the court whether she had been asked for her ID card at the entrance when she was a minor and went out at this nightclub she gave an affirmative response and that she had not witnessed any police raids while she was there.
The fire at the Pulse nightclub in Kochani broke out on March 16, 2025, during a performance by the DNK music band, and is one of the worst tragedies in the country’s recent history. The trial is in the evidentiary procedure with the hearing of witnesses at the proposal of the Prosecutor’s Office, which is represented by a team of 15 public prosecutors.
