A nightclub fire in the popular Indian resort region of Goa has killed at least 23 people including several tourists, officials said.
The blaze is suspected to have broken out after a cylinder exploded at the club in Arpora village around midnight on Saturday local time, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
Most of the victims are believed to have been kitchen staff, but Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told local reporters that “three to four tourists” were among the dead, according to PTI.
Goa, a small state on India’s west coast known for its beaches and Portuguese heritage, attracts hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists every year.
“Today is a very painful day for all of us in Goa. A major fire incident at Arpora has taken the lives of 23 people,” Sawant said Sunday morning in a post on X.
Videos on social media showed fire trucks and ambulances lining up to help the injured, who were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, as authorities worked through the night to bring the situation under control, Indian news agency ANI reported.
Most of the victims succumbed to burn injuries and others died due to suffocation, PTI reported, citing the chief minister.
An inquiry has been ordered to “examine the exact cause of the fire and whether fire safety norms and building rules were followed,” Sawant said.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the fire was “deeply saddening.”
“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones,” he said on X.
“May the injured recover at the earliest.”
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