Dozens of people died and around 100 were injured, most critically, after a fire engulfed a bar packed with revelers during a New Year’s Eve party in the upscale Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said Thursday.
The fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. in a bar called “Le Constellation” in the resort, located in southwestern Switzerland, which residents said was popular with teenagers. The cause of the fire, initially reported as an explosion, remains unclear, but authorities said it appeared to be an accident rather than an attack.
Swiss police said “dozens” of people were presumed dead, with around 100 injured, and the Italian Foreign Ministry said Swiss police reported around 40 deaths. Swiss authorities declined to provide a specific number.
The roof caught fire.
Video footage showed lines of ambulances and helicopters landing to transport victims to nearby hospitals and specialized burn units in other Swiss cities.
Two young French women who said they were in the bar told French broadcaster BFM TV that they saw the fire start in the club’s basement after a bottle containing “birthday candles” got too close to the wooden ceiling.
“The fire spread through the ceiling very quickly,” one of the women, who identified herself as Emma and Albane, told BFM TV. They said they managed to climb a narrow staircase to the ground floor and escape the building. Minutes later, the fire also reached the ground floor, they reported.
Victims from several countries
The Italian ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told Sky TG24 that local authorities had informed him the fire started when someone lit a firecracker inside the bar, which ignited the ceiling. Cornado was in Crans-Montana, where, he said, several Italians had gathered seeking information about missing relatives or friends.
He declined to confirm whether there were any Italian victims, but witnesses stated that many of the people in the bar appeared to be from other countries.
Witnesses described how the injured were treated at makeshift triage centers set up in a nearby bar and a UBS bank branch, and said many suffered as they stepped out of the bar’s warmth and into the frigid night air.
“And then there were just ambulances going back and forth as fast as they could,” said Dominic Dubois, who witnessed the frantic scenes as bodies were being removed.