A fire that ripped through an Indian nightclub in the popular tourist resort region of Goa killed 25 people, the state’s chief minister said on Sunday.
Tourists were among the dead in the blaze, which broke out at about midnight at a club in Arpora in the north of the coastal state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement that the deaths were “deeply saddening”.
Modi added that his office would offer compensation of up to 200,000 rupees (US$2,200) to each family of the victims and 50,000 rupees to the injured.
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.
“Today is a very painful day for all of us,” Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said in a statement, saying that “25 people have lost their lives and six have been injured”.
Sawant told journalists that “three to four” tourists had died, without giving their nationalities.