Ministry of Defence: Four victims of North Macedonia fire transported by Romanian aircraft to Lithuania
The Ministry of National Defence (MApN) on Monday evening informed that four of the victims of the fire in North Macedonia have arrived safely in Vilnius, to be treated, Romanian emergency rescue service SMURD doctor Marius Ciobanu saying that the situation reminds him of the Colectiv case [a fire that broke out at a club in Bucharest - editor's note] from ten years ago.
The four injured were transported by a Romanian Air Force aircraft.
'It was a difficult mission, one that reminded me of what we also suffered some time ago during the Colectiv period, in which we also received help from other states. We did the same thing today, we went to support our medical colleagues from North Macedonia. We transported four young victims to Lithuania, in extremely serious conditions, intubated and mechanically ventilated,' said Marius Ciobanu, according to a video message sent by MApN.
According to the doctor, the patients' condition was stable during the flight.
'Everything went according to plan and we are very happy that we were able to help North Macedonia in such situations,' said the pilot, Lieutenant Commander Diana Apostol.
Romania is one of the European Union countries that offered to help North Macedonia after a devastating fire in a club in the country killed more than 50 people and left many more injured.
North Macedonia activated the EU's civil protection mechanism, requesting assistance to evacuate 15 patients with serious burns. Nine European countries reacted quickly - Croatia, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Lithuania, Hungary, Luxembourg and Norway - immediately offering assistance.
Several patients have already been evacuated from Luxembourg to Hungary, and Romania has transported patients to Lithuania. The EU is also coordinating the transport of other patients to countries that have offered treatment. The EU remains in close contact with the national authorities of North Macedonia and stands ready to mobilise increased assistance, if necessary.
On Monday, the Ministry of Defence reported that a Romanian Air Force C-27J Spartan aircraft, configured for medical missions, departed from Otopeni to carry out a humanitarian mission to transport four patients diagnosed with burns from Skopje, North Macedonia, to a hospital in Vilnius, Lithuania.
In the early hours of Sunday, a fire broke out in a nightclub in Kocani, North Macedonia, killing 59 people and injuring over 155. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita, EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)
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