At least 25 people have died when it broke out this Sunday morning at a nightclub in a popular tourist destination in the Goa region. The head of the Government of that Indian State, Pramod Sawant, has ordered a judicial investigation into the event. “I am carefully analyzing the situation arising from the tragic fire in Arpora, in which 25 people lost their lives and 6 were injured. The six injured are stable and receiving the best medical care. I have ordered a judicial investigation into the entire incident to determine the cause and their responsibilities,” Sawant said in a message published on X.
In statements to the Indian agency ANI, Sawant himself said that the fire took half an hour to extinguish. “Some people were able to run away, but others were not. Therefore, some people died of suffocation. According to preliminary information, four were tourists and the rest were employees of the club,” the head of the government said in a popular tourist enclave for Indian and foreign visitors on the coast of the Arabian Sea.
The Goa Police is still investigating the incident. The main hypothesis is that the flames occurred after the explosion of a gas cylinder inside the Birch By Romeo Lane nightclub. “There was a sudden commotion when the flames began to spread. We ran out of the club and saw that the entire structure was engulfed in flames,” a tourist who was in the club at the time of the fire told the Indian news agency PTI.
This Sunday, the Prime Minister of India offered his condolences to the families of the deceased and compensation for those closest to the fatalities and for the injured. Goa, characterized by its beaches and seaside hotels, clubs, discos and bars, is a popular tourist destination for Indian tourists as well as foreign visitors. The State is often rated as one of the safest in India. Fires are common in the country, since the infrastructure does not have the best initial construction conditions.
