Israel to send medical delegation to North Macedonia after deadly fire
Sa'ar expressed his condolences "for the terrible tragedy in which more than 50 people were killed and dozens were injured in a fire."
A medical delegation from Sheba Medical Center will travel to North Macedonia after a fire killed dozens at a nightclub, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar informed his North Macedonian counterpart, Timco Mucunski, on Sunday.
Sa’ar also expressed his condolences “for the terrible tragedy in which more than 50 people were killed and dozens were injured in a fire.”
“Israel stands by North Macedonia in this difficult time,” he said on X/Twitter, along with the Israeli and North Macedonian flags.
I spoke with my counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia @TimcoMucunski to express our condolences for the terrible tragedy in which more than 50 people were killed and dozens were injured in a fire. I told my counterpart that Israeli medical experts will…
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) March 16, 2025
Mucunski later responded on X, thanking Sa’ar. The North Macedonian foreign affairs minister added, “In these difficult moments, the solidarity of our partners and friends is truly invaluable to us.”
The delegation sent will remain on-site in North Macedonia for as long as the support is needed.
It includes doctors, nurses, burn and orthopedic specialists, and Israel’s non-resident ambassador to North Macedonia, Simona Frankel. The medical specialists will provide assistance to local hospitals struggling with the heavy patient loads resulting from the fire.
“Israel stands with the Macedonian people in these difficult moments following the nightclub fire disaster,” said Frankel. “The departing medical delegation will do its utmost to assist local medical teams in treating the injured and mitigating the severe impact on the local healthcare system as it deals with a mass casualty event.”
Fire in a nightclub
The packed nightclub in North Macedonia – where 59 people were killed in a blaze – had just one emergency exit, which was locked, lacked fire extinguishers and sprinklers, and contained flammable materials, the state prosecutor, Ljupco Kocevski, said.
The fire broke out during a hip-hop concert at the club in the town of Kocani at around 3 a.m. on Sunday when sparks from flares set a patch of ceiling alight. Hundreds of people scrambled for the venue’s only exit as flames spread across the roof in the country’s deadliest incident in years.
Kocevski explained, “It did not have two exit doors but only one single improvised metal door at the back of the building, which was locked and without a handle on the inside.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
