PM Modi speaks to Goa CM after nightclub blaze; ex-gratia announced

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spoke to Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant after a nightclub blaze in the coastal state claimed 25 lives.

“The fire mishap in Arpora, Goa is deeply saddening. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest,” Modi posted on X.

“Spoke to Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant Ji about the situation. The State Government is providing all possible assistance to those affected,” Modi said.

“An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund will be given to the next of kin of each deceased in the mishap in Arpora, Goa. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000,” the PMO said in a separate statement.

Twenty-five people were killed in the blaze at Birch by Romeo Lane on Saturday night. The popular party venue at Arpora village, around 25 km from the state capital Panaji, opened last year.

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

Sawant told reporters that while three people succumbed to burns and the others died due to suffocation.