A tragic incident came to light late on Saturday night (6-7 December 2025) in Arpora village of North district of Goa. A sudden fire broke out in a popular night club named ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’, in which at least 25 people lost their lives. Three women and some foreign tourists are also said to be among the dead. This club is located at a distance of about 25 kilometers from the capital Panaji and was very popular among the tourists.
On the incident, Birch’s security guard Sanjay Kumar Gupta said, “My duty was from 8 in the night to 8 in the morning. The fire incident occurred between 11 pm and 12 am. Suddenly a fire broke out. I was at the gate. A DJ, dancers were going to come here and there was going to be a huge crowd there. The guard further said that after the accident we were not allowed inside the club.
Statement of Goa Director General of Police
Goa Director General of Police Alok Kumar said that according to preliminary investigation, the accident occurred due to the explosion of a gas cylinder kept in the kitchen. Immediately after receiving the information around midnight, teams of police, fire department and ambulance reached the spot, but the fire was so intense that the people inside did not get a chance to get out.
Most of the deaths occurred due to suffocation, some people also burnt in the flames.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, after inspecting the spot, said that three people died due to direct burning, while the rest died amidst the poisonous layer of smoke. He said that most of the deceased were employees working in the kitchen of the night club, who could not come out at the time of the accident.
#WATCH Sanjay Kumar Gupta, a security guard at Birch says, “The incident occurred between 11 pm and 12 am. Suddenly, there was a fire…I was at the gate…A DJ, dancer was going to come here, and it was about to get really crowded…” https://t.co/upgOx2TYuW pic.twitter.com/gSJylB7QNb
— ANI (@ANI) December 7, 2025
CM’s strict stance on ignoring fire safety rules
CM Sawant clearly said that in the initial investigation it has become clear that the club administration did not follow the security related rules. He announced that strict action will be taken against those responsible who have been negligent. The Chief Minister termed this incident as a huge negligence in the tourist season and has set up a high-level inquiry.
Rescue operation continued throughout the night, bodies were sent to GMC
Local MLA Michael Lobo said that police and fire teams conducted rescue operations throughout the night. All the bodies have been sent to Goa Medical College, Bambolim, where the process of identification and post-mortem is going on. Relief workers had to put in a lot of effort to control the fire.
Now fire safety will be checked in all night clubs
After the accident, the Goa administration has decided to conduct a security check of all the night clubs, bars and entertainment places in the state. MLA Lobo said that Calangute Panchayat will issue a notice to all the clubs on Monday and order them to show fire safety permits. The licenses of those establishments which do not have valid permissions will be cancelled.
Also read: Watch: Fire in Goa’s nightclub took the lives of 25 people! Horrible video of the accident surfaced