Goa nightclub fire: All victims identified; 5 tourists, 20 staff members on the list

Goa nightclub fire

All 25 people who died in the deadly fire at a Goa nightclub have now been identified, officials confirmed on Sunday. The victims include 20 staff members and five tourists who were present at the popular venue, Birch by Romeo Lane, in Arpora, North Goa, when the blaze broke out on Saturday.

Among the five tourists who lost their lives, four were from Delhi and one was from Karnataka. The Delhi victims included three members of the same family, Saroj Joshi, Vinod Kumar, Anita Joshi and Kamla Joshi, while the fifth tourist, Ishaq, was from Karnataka.

The remaining 20 victims were working at the club and came from different parts of the country and neighbouring Nepal. Four members of the staff were from Uttarakhand, three each from Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Nepal, while others were from Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Darjeeling in West Bengal, and Nepal.

The deceased staff members have been identified as Mohit, Pradeep Mahto and Binod Mahto from Jharkhand; Rahul Tanti, Manojit Mal and Digambar Patir from Assam; Satish Singh, Surender Singh, Jitendra Singh, Sumit Negi and Manish Singh from Uttarakhand; Churna Bahadur Pun, Vivek Katwal, Sabin and Sudeep from Nepal; Sunil Kumar and Rohan Singh from Uttar Pradesh; Subhash Chetri from Darjeeling in West Bengal; and Dominic and Manoj Jora from Maharashtra.

At least 100 people were on the dance floor when the fire broke out shortly after midnight. Panic spread quickly as flames and smoke filled the building. Many people ran towards the lower floor, heading in the direction of the kitchen, where several became trapped along with staff members, Hindustan Times reported.

Police officials said the fire was likely triggered by fireworks during dance performance inside the nightclub. The exact cause is still under investigation.

Compounding the tragedy was the nightclub’s location and design. Birch by Romeo Lane is situated near the backwaters of the Arpora river and has narrow access roads and limited entry and exit points. Due to the tight lanes leading to the venue, fire engines could not reach the site directly and had to be parked nearly 400 metres away, delaying rescue efforts.