All victims of the fire that engulfed a nightclub in Kocani died of asphyxiation, which was directly caused by the fire, said on March 21 the director of forensic medicine in North Macedonia, Aleksandar Stankov, who provided information on the autopsies and identification of the victims.
During a press conference he said forensic experts, pathology and teams from the Interior Ministry participated in conducting autopsies on the 59 victims.
"Some of the victims had first and second degree burns, but three people also had fourth degree burns. Four people had broken ribs and suffocated while trying to escape," Stankov said.
He said two methods were used to identify the victims, through DNA and fingerprint analysis. However, Stankov said it was impossible to analyze the fingerprints of the four victims, so they were identified through DNA.
"Toxicological tests are currently being conducted to determine what was found in the victims' blood, although according to microscopic findings during autopsies, most of them had carbon monoxide," Stankov said.
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Authorities said that reports of all autopsies performed will be completed this month, but toxicology tests may take longer.
"Of the 59 autopsies performed, 70 percent of the victims were between 16 and 29 years old, 16 were women and 43 were men. I don't want to go into details as not all the tests have been performed, but there were victims with broken ribs and signs of pressure that led to asphyxiation," Stankov said.
Speaking about asphyxiation, Stankov explained that under the influence of carbon monoxide, headaches, vomiting, dizziness, loss of consciousness, disorientation and muscle paralysis occur, and in such cases, victims are usually found near the place where they were at the moment they attempted to escape.
The day before, the victims of the March 16 Kocani nightclub fire were buried in Shtip, Kocani, Češinovo-Oblješevo, but also in Skopje and other cities in North Macedonia.
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At least 155 people were injured in the incident. Authorities said 10 patients were in serious but life-threatening condition.
Some of them are being treated in North Macedonia, while some in neighboring countries. /REL
