THE GOA BIRCH FIRE TRAGEDY: A CAUTIONARY TALE

The Birch by Romeo Lane inferno was not an isolated accident but the predictable result of blatant illegality, regulatory apathy and entrepreneurial recklessness. The Luthra brothers built an empire by flouting environmental and safety norms, aided by a web of officials who looked the other way.

- TDG NETWORK

On the night of 6 December 2025, a horrific blaze tore through the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora, North Goa. The fire erupted during a musical night with more than 100 guests, quickly engulfing the establishment and leaving 25 people dead and six injured. The majority of victims were staff members who were trapped in a basement with no fire exit. This tragedy exposed deep-rooted illegalities in Goa's hospitality industry and led to an international manhunt for club owners Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra. The following report reconstructs the disaster, details the regulatory and safety violations that led to it, profiles the Luthra brothers, outlines the criminal cases against them, and explains the current state of proceedings. It blends investigative reporting with narrative to create a riveting account of how greed, regulatory failure and callousness culminated in one of India's deadliest nightclub fires.

THE NIGHT OF THE FIRE

The Birch by Romeo Lane was promoted as India's "first island bar," a chic hexagonal structure built over salt pans near Arpora's Baga creek. At around 11:30 pm on 6 December, a musical night was underway. Video footage and eyewitness accounts suggest that electric firecrackers or pyrotechnic sparklers ignited the highly flammable wood déco. Within minutes the blaze spread through the wood and plastic roof, sending thick smoke billowing through the multilevel structure. The club lacked alarms or sprinklers and had only one narrow staircase to the basement. Witnesses recalled chaos as guests and staff scrambled toward the sole exit, hampered by furniture and decorative installations.