India, Dec. 10 -- Goa's tourism season will continue and visitors are welcome, chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday, stressing that safety is the priority and only licensed operators will be allowed to function.

This comes after 25 people were killed and six injured in a massive fire that ripped through nightclub - Birch by Romeo Lane - in the coastal village of Arpora in north Goa on Saturday. Twenty of the victims were staffers at the club, while five were tourists.

A combination of factors - key safety lapses, including an inadequate number of exits and the use of pyroguns, a thatched roof and stacks of alcohol - intensified the fire, causing it to engulf the 300-square-metre establishment.

Sawant, who chaired a meeting wi...