A late Sunday night fire at a nightclub in Goa claimed 25 lives and injured six. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant ordered a magisterial probe into the mishap and vowed action against officials who allowed it to operate despite the violation of safety norms. The police registered an FIR against two owners of Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Goa, its manager, and event organisers and detained the sarpanch of Arpora-Nagoa panchayat.
Most of the deaths were caused by suffocation, as the victims got trapped on the ground floor of the nightclub. The deceased included four tourists and 14 staff members, while the identity of the remaining seven was yet to be established, the police said. A senior police official said that it will take a day to identify all the bodies and conduct the postmortem, only after which the mortal remains will be handed over to their relatives.
The construction of the club was reportedly unauthorised but the demolition notice served to the club had been stayed by a higher authority, claimed a village official. While the state police initially said the blaze occurred due to a cylinder blast, some eyewitnesses claimed the fire started on the club’s first floor, where tourists were dancing.
At least 100 people were on the dance floor when the fire broke out, and in an attempt to escape, some of them ran downstairs to the kitchen, where they got trapped along with the staff, Fatima Shaikh, a tourist from Hyderabad, said. The nightclub was jam-packed as it was the weekend, she added. In no time, the entire club was engulfed in flames. The nightclub is situated in the backwaters of the Arpora river and has a narrow entry and exit. There was no access for the fire brigades to the club because of the narrow lanes and their tankers had to be parked about 400 metres away from the spot.
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President C P Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, expressed grief over the loss of lives. Prime Minister Modi also announced an ex gratia of INR two lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and INR 50,000 for those injured.
