Last rites of 3 Goa fire victims from Assam performed

Guwahati, Dec 9 (PTI) The bodies of the three persons from Assam who died in the Goa nightclub fire reached their respective homes in Cachar and Dhemaji districts on Tuesday, and their last rites were

performed, officials said.

The three were working at the nightclub in Arpora when a fire broke out shortly after midnight on Sunday, killing at least 25 people and injuring six others.

The bodies of Manojit Mal (24) and Rahul Tanti (32) arrived at Silchar airport and were taken by road to Silcoore and Rangirkhari villages, respectively, in Cachar district.

Their bodies were handed over to their relatives who were also working in Goa and they accompanied the victims back home.

The body of 23-year-old Diganta Patir was received by his brother who works in Kerala and he accompanied the mortal remains during the journey to their village in Jamukani Matikhola in Dhemaji district.

Patir’s body was brought to Dibrugarh by flight and then taken to his village by road.

Both district administrations had coordinated with the Goa police in bringing back the bodies.

All three worked as cooks in the nightclub.

A pall of gloom descended the three villages as the bodies arrived, with family members and villagers breaking down in grief.

Mal and Tanti, belonged to the tea tribe, were cremated while Patir was buried according to the rituals of the Mising tribe to which he belonged.

Relatives of Mal and Tanti alleged that the two had to leave their village and the state because of the lack of employment options.

The villagers said poor conditions in the tea gardens of Barak Valley had forced many youths to migrate for work to distant places.

Patir’s mother said both her sons were employed in distant states such as Goa and Kerala, as livelihood opportunities were scarce in Dhemaji, a district frequently hit by floods and erosion.

A jam-packed nightclub in North Goa turned into a death trap after midnight on Sunday as a massive fire tore through it, claiming 25 lives and leaving six injured while raising serious questions about `illegal’ operations and flouting of safety norms.

While police said that a cylinder blast seemed to have started the blaze, a tourist who survived the tragedy claimed that fireworks were set off when dancers were performing, and it was the likely cause.

Most of the deaths were caused by suffocation, as the victims, many of them employees, got trapped on the ground floor of `Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub at Arpora, 25 km from Panaji, a fire official said. PTI DG DG NN