Smoke and flames billow after a fire broke at a nightclub in Goa.
Credit: PTI photo
Late Saturday night, around 25 km from Goa's capital Panaji, a fire broke out in a nightclub called Birch by Romeo Lane which claimed the lives of at least 25 people and injured several others.
Initial reports stated that the fire was caused due to a 'cylinder blast', however eyewitnesses report that the fire began on the first floor and spread to other parts of the building.
Most of the people died due to suffocation since they were "trapped" in the basement.
According to Chief Minister of the state Pramod Sawant, "Most of the dead were the club's kitchen workers, and included three women". He also said among the deceased 2-3 of them were tourists.
Eyewitnesses that since it being a Saturday, the club was jam-packed and there were atleast 100 people on the dance floor itself. All of sudden there was a huge commotion and the flames started erupting.
In a bid to escape, many people ran downstairs to kitchen where they got trapped with the staff.
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.
One of the witnesses said, "In no time, the entire club was engulfed in the fire. “There was a temporary construction made up of palm leaves which easily caught fire.”
A senior officer from the Fire and Emergency Services told PTI that the narrow access made it difficult to reach the spot, which in turn made controlling the blaze a challenging task.
He said that the majority of the deaths were caused by suffocation, as the victims remained trapped on the ground floor.
CM Sawant, who visited the spot after the incident, told reporters that the nightclub had not followed the fire safety norms.
Sawant said he would order an inquiry into the incident, while action would be initiated against the club management and the authorities who allowed the establishment to function.
Arpora-Nagoa panchayat sarpanch Roshan Redkar said the club was run by Saurav Luthra, who had a dispute with his partner.
“There was a dispute between them and they had filed a complaint against each other with the panchayat. We had inspected the premises and found that they did not have the permission to construct the club,” he said.
The panchayat had issued a demolition notice, which was stayed by the officials of the Directorate of Panchayats, Redkar said.
The original owner of the premises had sublet the place to Luthra, he said.
(With PTI inputs)