At least 25 people were killed when a fire tore through a crowded nightclub in Arpora, a popular tourist hub in northern Goa, around midnight local time, the state’s chief minister said. Tourists were among the dead in the blaze at the Birch nightclub, according to authorities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the deaths “deeply saddening” and said he had spoken with Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. Modi added that the state government was providing “all possible assistance” to victims and their families.
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Sawant told reporters that “three to four” of the dead were tourists, without disclosing their nationalities. He said the government has ordered a magisterial inquiry to determine the cause and “fix responsibility.” Officials did not immediately provide a count of those injured or details on the condition of survivors.
Video obtained by the Press Trust of India showed rescuers carrying people on stretchers down a narrow stone staircase at the club, underscoring the difficulty of evacuations as smoke and flames spread. Authorities have not announced what sparked the blaze.
The fire struck in one of India’s best-known coastal destinations. Goa, a former Portuguese colony on the Arabian Sea, draws millions of visitors every year for its sandy beaches, nightlife and laid-back atmosphere. Arpora sits amid a dense strip of restaurants, bars and clubs in the state’s north, an area that swells with domestic and international tourists.
Deadly fires are a recurring tragedy in India, where overcrowded venues, poor construction practices and lapses in safety enforcement often converge with catastrophic results. In May, at least 17 people died when a blaze swept a three-story building in Hyderabad. A month earlier, a hotel fire in Kolkata killed at least 15, forcing some guests to scramble through windows and onto rooftops to escape. Last year, at least 24 people were killed after a packed amusement park arcade caught fire in Gujarat.
In the wake of Sunday’s disaster, Goa officials said the investigation would examine compliance with building and fire safety codes at the Birch nightclub and seek to identify any failures that contributed to the death toll. Authorities were still working to identify victims and notify families.
Witness accounts were not immediately available, and police did not release an official timeline beyond saying the blaze began around midnight. Emergency crews remained at the site through the night, and the club and surrounding lanes were cordoned off as forensic teams began their work.
The disaster is likely to bring renewed scrutiny to fire preparedness at entertainment venues, particularly in tourist corridors where crowds surge on weekends and during holiday seasons. Sawant’s order for a magisterial inquiry signals the prospect of administrative action against those found negligent, though officials have cautioned that conclusions will depend on the investigation’s findings.
For now, the focus is on identifying the dead, aiding the injured and determining how a night out in one of India’s most visited party districts turned so swiftly into one of the country’s deadliest recent nightclub fires.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
