Around 40 people were killed and 115 injured when a fire broke out in a bar during a New Year’s Eve party in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, officials said on Thursday.
Police said the fire started at 1:30AM (05:30AM GST) as people were celebrating in Le Constellation, a bar in the resort in southwestern Switzerland that locals said was frequented by teenagers.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin described the disaster as “one of the worst tragedies our country has ever known” and said most of the deceased were young people.
The first victim of the fire has been named as Emanuele Galeppini, an Italian golfer.
In a post on its website, the Italian Golf Federation paid tribute to a “young athlete who embodied passion and authentic values”. While numerous news outlets have shared this news, officials are yet to confirm the names of any victims.
Investigators were on Friday beginning the process to identify victims of the fire. Swiss police have warned it could take days or even weeks to identify everyone who died, leaving a wait for family and friends.
Switzerland bar fire kills 40 during New Year celebrations in Crans-Montana
The cause of the blaze, which was initially reported as an explosion, remained unclear but authorities said the fire appeared to be an accident rather than an attack.
Authorities warned that naming the victims or establishing a death toll would take time because many of the bodies were burned. Experts were using dental and DNA records to try to identify the dead.
Video footage verified by Reuters showed fire spreading from the building, and witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion as people rushed to get out.
Two French women who said they were in the bar told France’s BFM TV that they saw the fire start in the basement section of the club after a bottle containing “birthday candles” was held up too close to the wooden ceiling.
“The fire spread across the ceiling super quickly,” one of the two women, who identified themselves as Emma and Albane, told BFM TV.
The pair said they were able to climb a staircase to the ground floor and escape the building. Minutes later, the fire had reached the ground floor too, they said.
BFM showed video of a waitress carrying a champagne bottle with a lit “fountain candle” through the bar, one of many in Crans-Montana, a ski centre with boutiques, hotels and restaurants. But the footage did not show the fire breaking out.
Local prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud said an investigation had been opened into the blaze at the bar, which Swiss company records showed was owned by a French couple, but she said it was too early to comment on any possible safety failures.
Crans-Montana bar fire: Witnesses describe panic as 40 killed in New Year blaze
Witnesses said many of those celebrating in the bar appeared to be from different countries. Foreign governments were calling around to establish whether their nationals were among the victims but were facing a process because the severity of the burns had rendered identification challenging, one European official said.
Eight French people were missing, the French foreign ministry said, adding that it could not rule out that French nationals were among the dead. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to his Swiss counterpart to offer assistance.
Three survivors of the fire have been moved to French hospitals and further transfers were under way, the ministry added.
Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told Sky TG24 that local authorities had told him the fire was started by someone letting off a firework inside the bar.
Witnesses described injured being treated in makeshift triage centres set up in a bar and in a branch of UBS bank and said many suffered after coming out of the heat of the bar into the freezing night air.
Video footage showed lines of ambulances queuing and helicopters landing to take victims to hospitals and burn units in other Swiss cities, including Lausanne and Zurich.
Switzerland’s neighbours, France, Germany and Italy, also offered to treat victims in their own centres.
On Thursday morning, footage from the street outside showed the area cordoned off, with forensic tents behind white screens set up in front of the bar.
Hundreds of people paid their respects to the victims at the top of the road in front of the scene on Thursday evening. Dozens left flowers or lit candles on a makeshift altar in front of the police cordon as a crowd stood in silence in the night.
Crans-Montana is due to host next year’s Alpine World Ski Championships. Swiss officials said the fire was unprecedented in Switzerland.
“What was meant to be a moment of joy turned, on the first day of the year in Crans-Montana, into mourning that touches the entire country and far beyond,” Parmelin said on the social media platform X.
