"My sister died, I don't know how I survived. They trampled me," says Marija, a witness to the tragedy.

Marija Taseva and her sister were at the 'Pulse' nightclub in Kocani, North Macedonia, when the fire broke out in the packed venue on Sunday.

Taseva tried to escape, but fell to the ground and was trampled by people, leaving her with a bruise on her cheek. In her haste, she lost contact with her sister, who she says was killed.

"Yes, my sister is dead. I survived and she didn't," she said while sitting outside the local hospital in Kocani.

"The fire broke out, everyone started shouting 'Get out, get out!', but unfortunately there was only one exit and there were 1,500 people inside. Then everyone started pushing each other, so I headed for the exit. I don't know how, but I ended up on the ground, I couldn't get up and at that moment people started stepping on me. I don't know how, but somehow I managed to get out. I'm fine now, but there are a lot of dead people. It's terrible," says Marija.

Mustafa Saidov, a Red Cross volunteer, described the sad situation that has gripped Kocani, the site of the tragedy: “Inside, where they identify the victims, the situation is much worse. You see that the parents are also quite young, around 40. Their children are 18 or 20 years old. As I said, the situation is brutal, chaotic, the stories are very sad and unfortunately many young lives have been lost.”  (A2 Televizion)