On Monday, PM Hristijan Mickoski said 16 March, that is, the date of the Kocani nightclub fire had been the most difficult day of his life.
“That morning, it was around 3:30 am when a man was knocking on my home’s door. When I opened, I saw it was a member of Interior Minister Pance Toskovski’s security detail. I hadn’t checked my phone previously because it was 3:30 am.
It’s logical and normal for a person to be sleeping. However, when I did, I saw that text sent by the Minister. He had already headed towards the scene. I immediately pulled myself together. The first thing I did was call the people from my team in order for us to immediately head towards Kocani. We arrived at around 5, 5 something AM”, he pointed out.
Regarding the offer for assistance from other countries, he said it was hard and emotional to decide to accept that, especially with regards to neighbors with which the country had deteriorated relations.
“In that whole situation, it’s normal, as a human, to react and for big emotions to be created. However, decisions need to be made. Everyone is waiting on you to make decisions. The most difficult ones were the ones when an offer for assistance was coming, especially from the region. You know that we, unfortunately, don’t have brilliant relations with part of the neighbors. I would say especially with one neighbor.
When you need to make a decision, you have to pay attention to all consequences that may emerge. I thought for several seconds and then said, ‘Please get the most critical patients ready. I will accept the assistance being offered by the neighbors and transport them immediately”, the PM underlined.