They Went to Dance, They Didn’t Come Back: The Deadly Pattern Behind A Decade of Nightclub Fires

Weekend revelry turned into a horrific tragedy as a massive fire tore through a nightclub in North Goa after midnight on Sunday. A devastating fire at 'Birch By Romeo Lane', a nightclub at Arpora in North Goa,

claimed 25 lives. Most of the deaths were caused by suffocation, as the victims got trapped on the ground floor of the nightclub, according to an official. The fire started on the first floor of the club, and due to congestion and small doors, the customers could not move out, a preliminary inquiry into the incident has revealed. "Some of them rushed to the ground floor and got trapped there," said Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. Goa Chief Minister Sawant ordered a magisterial inquiry into the fire at a nightclub. CM Sawant, in a post on X, said, "I am closely reviewing the situation arising from the tragic fire incident at Arpora, in which 25 people have lost their lives and six have been injured." "All six injured persons are in a stable condition and are receiving the best medical care. I have ordered a magisterial inquiry into the entire incident to identify the cause and fix responsibility," he said.

At least 100 people were on the dance floor of a nightclub in North Goa when a fire broke out there, and in an attempt to escape, some of them ran downstairs to its kitchen, where they got trapped along with the staff, according to an eyewitness.

The tragic incident has brought back horrific memories of the deadly blaze that claimed 62 lives at a nightclub in North Macedonia in March this year and other nightclub fires that claimed significant human lives in the past decade.

• March 2025: Fire at a nightclub in North Macedonia, killed 62 people. Blaze broke out when sparks from indoor fireworks hit the ceiling and set it alight.

• April 2024: 29 killed in blaze at Masquerade nightclub, Istanbul. Fire broke out when the venue was closed for renovation work. The blaze had trapped workers and employees while the venue was closed. It was located on the ground and basement floors of a 16-story residential building.

• October 2023: Fire at nightclub complex in Murcia, Spain, claimed 13 lives. Fire was possibly triggered by an electrical fault.

• August 2022: 23 charred to death at Mountain B nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand. Possible short circuit or an issue with the electrical system is believed to have triggered the blaze.

• January 2022: 19 killed in fire at Sorong nightclub in West Papua province, Indonesia. Club was burned by two groups which clashed inside the building.

• January 2022: Fire at nightclub in Yaounde, Cameroon, killed 16 people. Blaze occurred due to fireworks lit while champagne was being served in the club.

• December 2016: ‘Ghost Ship’ warehouse fire in Oakland, California, claimed 36 lives. The deadliest blaze in the history of Oakland was triggered during an electronic music and dance party.

• October 2015: Colectiv nightclub fire in Bucharest, Romania, killed 64 people. Pyrotechnics during a performance by the metalcore band Goodbye to Gravity ignited the club's flammable polyurethane acoustic foam. The fire spread rapidly.

(With inputs from PTI, AP)