At least 59 people were killed and 155 others were injured when a fire broke out overnight in a nightclub in North Macedonia, the country’s interior minister, Panche Toshkovski, said Sunday. The blaze, the deadliest national tragedy in recent memory, has horrified the small country in southeastern Europe.

“The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable,” Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote on social platform X.

Police have detained 15 people, including the manager of the club and the son of its owner, Toshkovski said. He said that the company that ran the club did not have a license. He added that several former or current officials had been arrested in connection with the case.

“This license — as many other things in the past in Macedonia — is connected to bribery and corruption,” he said. “But I want to tell the Macedonian public that, unlike other times in the past, the people that issue these illegal licenses will be named and be held responsible for it.”

— The New York Times