Ex-ministers charged as probe into deadly club fire broadens

North Macedonia authorities said Saturday they had widened an investigation into a nightclub fire that killed 61 people, to include former ministers and officials.

The interior ministry said in a statement that, in coordination with the prosecutors, criminal charges had been filed against 19 people for "serious crimes against public security".

They were under investigation over the March 16 fire that broke out during a hip-hop concert at the club in the eastern town of Kocani. One of Europe's deadliest fires, the blaze also injured nearly 200 other people.

The 19 new suspects, according to the prosecutors, include notably former economy ministers, as the ministry officials and officials of the protection and rescue directorate.

They were all in office from 2012, when the club opened, until the blaze broke out in March.

They "did not act at all in line with the regulations on protection measures and thereby endangered lives of people and property on a large scale", a public prosecutor's office statement said.

Stage fireworks set off inside during the concert, which triggered a stampede for the exit, are thought to have caused the fire.

Local media reported that among of those arrested is the current minister without portfolio and the former head of the protection and rescue directorate.

A warrant had also been issued for the former economy minister, who is currently serving as an ambassador.

These latest developments brings the number of people under investigation to 52 and three companies.

Police arrested 33 people in the initial stages of the investigation, including seven police officers, a former economy minister and ministry officials as well as three former mayors of the town.

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© Agence France-Presse