Thirty-four people, including top officials, are suspected of breaching safety standards which led to the deaths of 59 people in a nightclub fire last weekend in North Macedonia, a prosecutor said.
One of Europe's deadliest nightclub fires broke out 16 March during a hip hop concert in the Club Pulse in the eastern town of Kočani.
Nearly 200 people were injured in the blaze.
The incident was the worst loss of life in the Balkan nation since 1993, when two deadly plane crashes occurred.
The blaze was linked to stage fireworks set off inside during the concert, which triggered a stampede for the exit.
Public prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski told a press conference that the suspects include seven police officers, a former economy minister and ministry officials as well as three former mayors of the town.
The others were former chiefs of the national protection and rescue directorate and state market inspectorate, the director and employees of a private security guard agency, the club owner, and members of the band 'DNK' that was performing when the blaze erupted.
Alleged breaches and illegal acts by the suspects spanned over 15 years, starting when the nightclub project was unveiled, he said.
Irregularities included violations of fire regulations, security plans, including an insufficient number of fire extinguishers and emergency exits.
About 650 people were inside the club when the fire broke out, Mr Kocevski said.
He added that it was just the start of an "extensive investigation".
So far, 16 suspects have been detained pending trial.
More than two-thirds of the people who died were aged between 16 and 29, according to Aleksandar Stankov of the forensic medicine institute.
Autopsies revealed that the cause of death for all 59 victims was suffocation.
