Sawt Falasteen - India nightclub fire kills 25 in Goa

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".

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.

"I have ordered a magisterial inquiry into the entire incident to identify the cause and fix responsibility," Sawant added.

- 'Fire show' -

Video images from the Press Trust of India news agency showed rescuers carrying the injured or dead on stretchers down the narrow stone staircase of the Birch nightclub.

"Most people died due to suffocation in the basement and kitchen area," Nitin V. Raiker, Goa's fire chief, told Indian broadcaster CNN News18.

"I received information that there was a club party going on, and a fire show was organised in the club. The wooden parts of the club caught fire, and smoke spread throughout the building."

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.

O.Farraj--SF-PST