Goa nightclub fire exposes major safety failings
A tragic fire at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora, Goa, took 25 lives on Saturday night and brought serious safety gaps to light.
The club's tough-to-reach location on a salt pan, along with poor infrastructure, made rescue and firefighting really difficult.
Now, investigators are focusing on what went wrong to help prevent this from happening again.
Poor design and lack of exits made things worse
Birch by Romeo Lane was marketed as Goa's first island club, but its single narrow entrance surrounded by water slowed down emergency teams.
Inside, the basement had bad ventilation and the main floor—often packed with over 200 guests—had only one open exit during the fire.
As Nitin Raiker from fire services pointed out, only one exit was open during the rescue operation—highlighting the importance of safety checks in such places.
State response: Inquiry and compensation
Goa's Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident and announced ₹5 lakh compensation for each victim's family.
The government says it will tighten public safety rules to help keep people safe going forward.