Vacation Turns Into Tragedy, Delhi Woman Loses Husband, Sisters In Goa Fire

A night of music and dance turned fatal in Goa after a fire at a jampacked nightclub claimed 25 lives - 20 staff and five tourists - after midnight on Sunday. Four of the five tourists in the death count were from the same family in Delhi, who were on a long-awaited vacation to Goa.

Five members of the family went to the famous 'Birch By Romeo Lane' nightclub on Saturday to be a part of their "Bollywood Banger Night". Only one of them managed to survive the inferno. Bhavna Joshi is in shock after witnessing the fire rip through the building, killing her husband and three sisters who were trapped inside.

Joshi had a narrow escape herself as she was pushed out of the building by the panicked crowd after the fire broke out.

The victims have been identified as Vinod Joshi (43), Kamla Joshi (42), Anita Joshi (41) and Saroj Joshi (39). Kamla, Anita and Saroj were Bhavna's sisters. Kamla was married to Vinod's elder brother, Naveen Joshi.

Read | Goa Nightclub Where 25 Died Was Built Like Tinderbox. Crackers Lit The Fuse

The group had left for Goa last Friday (December 5) and was scheduled to return to Delhi tomorrow. Everything was fine until Saturday evening, and they had even spoken to their family back in Delhi. On Sunday morning, Vinod Joshi's family in the national capital received the shocking news. The family left for Goa soon after. By Sunday night, they had identified the bodies of their loved ones at a Goa hospital. After the autopsy, all the bodies were flown to Delhi.

Naveen Joshi, who lost his wife Kamla in the fire, lives in North East Delhi's Karawal Nagar. His younger brother, Vinod - who died in the blaze - lived in Ghaziabad's Vaishali with his wife, Bhavna. Her other two sisters, Anita and Saroj - who were also killed - lived in North West Delhi's Rohini.

Bhavna said that more than a hundred people were dancing in the nightclub when there was a sudden loud explosion and flames erupted. She was pushed out of the club by the crowd, she said.

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 the nightclub at Arpora, 25 km from Panaji, a fire official said.

Saurabh Luthra, one of the owners of the nightclub in North Goa, expressed "profound grief" and vowed to provide assistance, support and cooperation to the victims' families in "every possible form" through a social media post.

The post came at a time when police teams have been sent from Goa to Delhi to arrest the management of the club.