AT least 23 people have been killed in the Indian state of Goa following a fire at a popular nightclub in the village of Arpora, according to officials and media reports.
The blaze broke out at about midnight on Sunday when a gas cylinder exploded at the nightclub, the Press Trust of India reported, citing local police.
Several tourists and kitchen workers were killed in the fire, according to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
“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 wrote on X.
“I visited the incident site and have ordered an inquiry into this incident,” he said. “Those found responsible will face most stringent action under the law – any negligence will be dealt with firmly.”
Images circulating on social media showed rescue personnel rushing several people into emergency vehicles. Video clips posted online also show balls of fire and thick smoke rising from a low-rise building.
Sawant told journalists at the scene that “three to four” tourists had died.
Three of the victims had died from burn injuries, while the others died from suffocation, he said. At least three of the victims were women, he added.
The ANI news agency reported that the fire was now under control and that the bodies of all of the victims have been recovered.
A security guard who worked near the site of the fire also told the ANI that the fire had been caused by a gas cylinder.
“We heard a massive explosion,” the guard was quoted as saying. “We later learned that the fire broke out after a cylinder blast.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meanwhile expressed his sorrow over the incident, saying 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,” he wrote on X.
Goa, a former Portuguese colony on the shores of the Arabian Sea, lures millions of tourists every year with its nightlife, sandy beaches and laid-back coastal atmosphere.
Fires are common in India due to poor building practices, overcrowding and a lack of adherence to safety regulations.
In May, at least 17 people died after a fire ripped through a three-storey building in the Indian city of Hyderabad.
A month before that, a fierce blaze broke out in a hotel in Kolkata, killing at least 15 people. Some people clambered out of windows and onto the rooftop to escape.
And last year, at least 24 people died after a fire broke out at a packed amusement park arcade in the western state of Gujarat.
Officials at the time attributed the high number of deaths and injuries at the arcade to a lack of proper safety standards, noting people were trapped as a temporary structure at the facility had collapsed near the entrance.