Marija Taseva was enjoying a night out with her sister at the Pulse club in Kocani, North Macedonia, on Saturday when tragedy struck.

The sisters were watching DNK, a well-known hip-hop duo in the country when a fire suddenly broke out, killing at least 59 people and injuring 155 others.

"Everyone started screaming and shouting, 'Get out, get out!'" the 19-year-old told Reuters.

Panic ensued as people scrambled to escape, but the venue, which held around 500 people, had only one accessible exit. The other door at the back of the club was locked.

"I don’t know how, but I ended up on the ground. I couldn't get up, and at that moment, people started trampling over me," Ms. Taseva recalled.

Although she eventually managed to escape, her sister did not survive.

"My sister died. I was saved, but she wasn’t."

Authorities have arrested ten suspects believed to be responsible for the tragedy, including officials from the ministries that had issued the club’s operating license.

According to Interior Minister Pance Toskovski, the fire ignited at around 02:30 local time (01:30 GMT) on Sunday when sparks from pyrotechnic devices reached the ceiling, which was made of highly flammable material.

Local media described the venue as an "improvised nightclub." It had been operating without a legal license and was previously a carpet warehouse. Authorities are now investigating whether bribery and corruption played a role in the disaster.

"Most of the victims sustained injuries during the stampede caused by the panic to escape," said Kristina Serafimovska, head of the Kocani hospital.

She added that 70 of the injured were suffering from burns and carbon monoxide poisoning, according to AFP news agency.

Vladislav Gruev, a reconstructive and plastic surgery specialist at the University Clinic for Surgical Diseases, has been treating the survivors.

"Most of them have extensive burns covering more than 18% of their bodies, with second- and third-degree burns affecting the head, neck, upper torso, and hands," he explained.