23 dead in midnight blaze at Goa club; three women among victims

Panaji: At least 23 persons were killed in a blaze at a nightclub in North Goa following a cylinder blast late Saturday night, police said.

Most of the dead were the club's kitchen workers, and included three women, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said. There were “three to four tourists” among those killed, he added.

Sawant, who rushed to the spot, told reporters that of the 23, three succumbed to burn injuries and the others died due to suffocation.

As per initial information, the nightclub had not abided by the fire safety norms, the chief minister said.

The fire broke out at Birch by Romeo Lane after midnight. The popular party venue at Arpora village, around 25 km from the state capital Panaji, opened last year, “We will take action against the club management and also against the officials who allowed it to operate despite flouting safety norms,” Sawant said.

“This is an unfortunate incident during the peak tourist season in the coastal state,” Sawant said. “We will conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident and stringent action will be taken against the guilty,” the chief minister added.

Goa police chief Alok Kumar told PTI that the fire occurred due to a cylinder blast.

"All the 23 bodies have been recovered from the premises and sent to the government medical college at Bambolim,” local BJP MLA Michael Lobo said.

Firefighters and police teams rushed to the spot immediately and were engaged in rescue efforts through the night, Lobo told reporters.

Lobo said officials will conduct the fire safety audit of all the clubs to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

The Calangute panchayat will be issuing notices to all the nightclubs on Monday asking them to provide fire safety permissions, the MLA said. The licenses of clubs not having necessary permissions will be cancelled, he added.