Mother of Ivona Antova posts emotional message after Kochani fire
The mother, known as Kochani’s only woman firefighter, shared a letter and family photos mourning her daughter who died on March 16, 2025.
Stojka Ivanova Antova, the mother of 21-year-old Ivona Antova who died in the deadly fire at the Pulse club in Kochani on March 16, 2025, published a raw and emotional message on social media describing the silence that filled their home after the loss.
Instead of marking their 30th wedding anniversary with smiles and family warmth, the Antov family spent the day in mourning, with an empty place at the table and a permanent void in their lives. Stojka — known locally as the only woman firefighter in Kochani — shared family photographs and a letter addressed to her lost daughter.
In the short, anguished line that has resonated online she asked: "Where are you, our child, to congratulate us?"
She also wrote: "30 years together, in good times and bad, with love, dreams, joys and life's challenges..." describing how ordinary milestones have been transformed into reminders of absence.
In another passage Stojka continued: "But never, not even in our darkest nightmares, did we imagine that the worst would happen — that life would take from us the most precious, the dearest, our only child, our Ivona. Instead of celebrating together today... we sit shrouded in black, with tears on our cheeks and immeasurable pain in our hearts. And today... where are you, our child, to congratulate us, to hug us, to smile at us, to make our day special as only you could?"
She says that since Ivona's death the family's holidays, birthdays and joys have lost meaning. "Since you are gone, nothing is the same. For us the holidays, celebrations, birthdays and joys have ended — not because the calendar stopped marking them, but because without you they have no meaning. All that remains is the silence, the empty place of our Ivonka, the tears that do not stop and the memories that sometimes hurt more than the pain itself... We go to your grave, we bring flowers and tears, we speak to the sky, to the wind, to the silence... And above all we want just one more time to see you, to hug you," she wrote.
The parents say Ivona will remain forever their light, their angel and their only child, living in every beat of their hearts. Ivona Antova was 21 when her life was cut short on the night of March 16, 2025; she leaves grieving parents and a circle of friends from the mountaineering community who are still struggling to accept the sudden loss of her bright spirit.
Photo: press material from the event
