Parents of Kocani victims do not allow their children's bodies to be sent for autopsy in Skopje

The parents of the victims of the fire in Koča are forming a human shield in front of the Kočani Hospital and are not allowing the bodies of their dead children to be sent to Skopje for autopsy.

A fire at the Pulse discotheque this morning killed 59 people aged 14-25, most of them from Kocani.

The parents are angry after waiting all day in front of the hospital, demanding to collect the bodies of their loved ones to prepare them for burial.

"The whole world understood why they died and how they died." Why are we going to sit here any longer? "We're not giving up the children," they react.

There is increased police security in front of the hospital and a prosecutor from Skopje has arrived to clarify the procedure.

Some of the parents went to talk to representatives of the institutions to agree on further procedures.

We recall that the government declared 7 days of mourning throughout the country after the tragedy that claimed 59 lives in the fire at the Pulse discotheque in Kocani and called on everyone to adhere to the decision, "as the penalties for disobedience will be rigorous," the statement said after the extraordinary government session.

Read too The RMV government declared seven days of state mourning for the Kocani tragedy.

It also tasked the State Market Inspectorate to conduct an extraordinary inspection of hotel facilities (cabarets, nightclubs, discos and open discotheques) in the next three days in the country's territory and to immediately inform the Government of the inspection findings, "to determine the factual situation, whether they operate according to the country's standards and regulations."