PTI PANJIM:The staff at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Goa tried to control a massive blaze on the night of December 6 by throwing water from wine glasses and bottles in the absence of fire extinguishers, recalled Bhavna Joshi, who lost four mem bers of her family in the tragedy. Battling emotional trauma and anger over the alleged apathy of the nightclub management, the kin of some of the 25 victims have demanded that the investigation and trial be fast-tracked. “I have seen my family mem bers suffocating to death in the fire. What was their fault? You cannot imagine what it is like to retrieve four bodies of your fami ly members from a fire,” Joshi told reporters outside the Mapusa court on Tuesday, her voice chok ing with emotion. She lost her husband and three sisters in the fire, believed to be caused by fireworks during a per formance. Officials had said that narrow exit routes increased the number of fatalities on the fateful night. “The incident occurred just 15 minutes after we entered the nightclub. My husband was busy calming down the people when the fire occurred. I survived be cause I was pushed out by people rushing outside the nightclub. I tried to go back to search for my family, but they stopped me,” said Joshi, a resident of New Delhi. She alleged the nightclub man agement didn’t do anything to ex tinguish the fire. “There were no extinguishers. They were throwing water to control the blaze with the help of wine glasses and later with bot tles,” she said. “We come from a mid dle-class background. We had saved for this Goa trip. The tragedy left us shattered. We are in a crisis and enduring financial trouble,” Joshi added. A family member accompany ing Joshi said they visited Goa on two occasions this month to fol low up on the probe. He said a lawyer, who is their well-wisher, has volunteered to fight this case without charging any fee.
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Vikas Munda, originally from Jharkhand, lost his broth er in the fire tragedy. “We want justice for our family members. The accused should not be spared,” he told reporters outside the court. Goa Police so far arrested eight persons, including three owners of the nightclub, while another owner, Surinder Khosla, is yet to be held. The Mapusa court on December 26 extended the po lice custody of the owner-brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra. The siblings had fled to Thailand just hours after the tragedy that occurred in Arpora village. They were de ported to India on December 17
