MUMBAI, INDIA:

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 Sunday.

Tourists were among the dead in the blaze, which broke out around midnight at the Birch 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, adding that "25 people have lost their lives and six have been injured." Sawant told journalists that "three to four" tourists had di

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