Goa nightclub fire kills three migrant cooks from Jharkhand

Three young men from Jharkhand had migrated to Goa a year ago to earn a better living for their families back home and had started working as cooks in the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in north Goa.

In the early hours of Sunday, that dream ended in a horrific tragedy when a devastating inferno raged through the popular facility, leaving Vinod Mahato (19), Pradeep Mahato (24) and Mohit (24) dead along with 22 other persons, most of them staff members.

Distraught Rajiv Sahu, a cousin of Vinod Mahato, is now preparing to make arrangements to transport the mortal remains of the trio back to Jharkhand.

Relatives and friends of the victims, some from Assam, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, gathered outside the morgue of the Goa Medical College and Hospital, anxiously awaiting information about their loved ones.

Sahu, who works in Ponda town, told reporters that Vinod, Pradeep and Mohit came to Goa a year ago to work as cooks in the nightclub.

“They have families back home in Ranchi. They come from agricultural backgrounds. They came to Goa to earn a better living a year ago,” he told reporters, adding that he would transport the three bodies in a flight to Ranchi.

Relatives of the deceased have started making arrangements for carrying the mortal remains back to their native places in Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

They are probably not aware of the announcement made by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant that the state government will make arrangements for transporting the bodies.

Another victim, Satish Rana (27), originally from Uttarakhand, was working as a chef in the establishment. His relatives rushed to Goa after learning about the tragedy.

One of the relatives said he has identified the bodies of Rana and three others who hailed from Uttarakhand.

“When I came to know about the incident, I rushed here to identify Rana’s body and take it back home for rituals,” he said.