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The probable cause of the fire at ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub in Arpora, 25 km from Panaji, has emerged as fireworks, officials said, adding that the facility reportedly did not even have an NOC from the fire department.
#Watch Goa , Latest visuals from the spot where Birch restaurant fire broke out in Arpora, North Goa, claiming 25 lives. pic.twitter.com/7lLxaNHpwS
– ANI (@ANI) 8 December 2025
At least six people were injured in this incident. Of these, five are undergoing treatment in hospitals.
The dead included 20 nightclub employees and five tourists, four of whom were from Delhi.
CM Pramod Sawant said that as per preliminary information, the night club did not follow fire safety norms.
Most of the deaths occurred due to suffocation as the victims were trapped on the ground floor and in the kitchen, a fire department official said.
Narrow lanes blocked access for firefighting vehicles and water tankers had to be parked about 400 meters away from the spot. A senior fire and emergency services official told PTI that this has made controlling the fire a challenging task.
Fire department officials said small doors as well as a narrow bridge made it difficult for people to escape.
The club’s chief general manager, Rajiv Modak, general manager Vivek Singh, bar manager Rajiv Singhania, and gate manager Riyanshu Thakur were arrested by the police, Sawant said.
An FIR was lodged against the owners, Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, and the event organisers.
Three senior Goa government officials, including the then panchayat director, were suspended for their role in granting permission to the nightclub to start operations in 2023, a senior official said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that “electric firecrackers” were lit inside, causing the fire at 11:45 pm on Saturday (December 6), Sawant said, adding that he had directed Chief Secretary V Candavello and DGP Alok Kumar to identify and take action against government officials who had allowed the club to operate despite violating safety norms.
The government also formed an investigation panel comprising the South Goa Collector, the Deputy Director of Fire and Emergency Services and the Director of the Forensic Laboratory. It has been asked to submit its report within a week.
The Chief Minister said that an ex-gratia amount of ₹5 lakh would be given to the next of kin of each deceased and ₹50,000 to the injured from the State Disaster Management Authority fund.
The 20 workers who died in the fire were originally from Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Assam, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. According to the list released by the state government, four of them were Nepali citizens.
Sawant said, arrangements will be made to take the bodies of the deceased to their native places.
The suspended officials have been identified as Siddhi Tushar Harlankar, who was then director of the panchayat, Dr Shamila Monteiro, who was then member secretary of the Goa State Pollution Control Board, and Raghuveer Bagkar, who was then secretary of the gram panchayat Arpora-Nagoa.
He has been held responsible for granting permission to ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ night club in Arpora to start its operations in 2023, a senior official said.
President Draupadi Murmu, PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, expressed grief over the tragedy.
While the state police initially said that the fire was caused by a cylinder explosion, some eyewitnesses claimed that the fire broke out on the first floor of the club where tourists were dancing.
Delhi tourist Riya, who survived the fire, claimed that when the dancers were performing, firecrackers were bursting all around, which could have caused the fire. “There was a stampede-like situation there,” he said.
Fatima Shaikh, a tourist from Hyderabad, told PTI that there were at least 100 people on the dance floor and in an attempt to escape, some of them ran down towards the kitchen, where they got trapped along with the staff.
He said, “As soon as the flames started rising, there was a sudden commotion. We came out of the club and saw that the entire structure was on fire.” He said the nightclub was packed as it was a weekend.
Within no time the entire club was engulfed in flames. “There was a makeshift construction made of palm leaves, which caught fire easily,” Shaikh said.
Police interrogated Roshan Redkar, Sarpanch of Arpora-Nagoa Panchayat.
He said that there was a dispute between the two owners of the club and they had filed complaints against each other in the panchayat.
“We inspected the premises and found that they did not have permission to construct the club.
Redkar claimed that the panchayat had issued a demolition notice, which was put on hold by officials of the panchayat directorate.
Distraught relatives and friends of the victims gathered outside the morgue of the Goa Medical College and Hospital, anxiously awaiting information about their loved ones.
Goa BJP MLA Michael Lobo claimed that the license of the night club was issued by the local panchayat without any documents.
The opposition targeted the state’s BJP government over this tragedy.
Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said that he was deeply saddened by this incident. “This is not just an accident; this is a criminal failure of security and governance,” he said on X.
AAP said the Sawant government has lost its “moral right” to remain in power.
The Congress also demanded Sawant’s resignation, with its Goa desk in-charge Manikrao Thackeray claiming that the club had not obtained an NOC from the fire department, nor did it have permission from the excise department to sell liquor.
Sawant said the government has taken measures to prevent such incidents and clubs running without permission and places with high footfall potential will be audited.
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