At least 40 people were killed and 115 people injured, with many of them critical, in the devastating New Year's fire at a bar in a Swiss ski resort, authorities said. The local police commander said the toll is expected to include a large number of foreign nationals. "We can expect victims of foreign nationalities," local police chief Frederic Gisler said at a press conference as he gave the preliminary death toll from Thursday morning's fire.
"This was one of the worst tragedies our country has experienced,", Swiss President Guy Parmelin told a press conference on Thursday that tore through the packed bar in the upscale resort town of Crans-Montana.
Death Toll Likely to Increase
Parmelin said that flags across Switzerland will be lowered to half-staff for five days in the wake of the tragedy. He also postponed his traditional New Year's Day address as the country mourns the victims. The fire erupted around 1:30 a.m. at Le Constellation, with emergency crews rushing to the scene shortly afterward.
Investigators say the fire was accidentally sparked when a woman, who was being carried on someone's shoulders during the celebration, was holding a champagne bottle topped with a lit sparkler. That flame soon turned catastrophic.
Officials said that the initial fire triggered a sudden "flashover," where all combustible materials in a room ignite almost simultaneously, resulting in a rapid spread of flames and a series of explosions that overwhelmed the venue within moments.
A promotional video released by Le Constellation last year shows female nightclub staff weaving through a tightly packed, low-ceilinged venue while carrying champagne bottles topped with sparklers — a festive touch that, in hindsight, appears dangerously risky.
One witness told French outlet 24Heures that the fire set off sheer panic inside the bar, with terrified patrons rushing for the exits and surging up a narrow staircase as chaos broke out.
The flames tore through the bar — which can accommodate up to 300 people — at terrifying speed, witnesses said. Within seconds, thick smoke filled the space, making it nearly impossible to breathe and leaving little time for people to react or escape.
"All the windows were black and opaque with smoke," Victoria said. "Some people smashed windows to let in air."
Moment of Devastation
A chilling video shared by Tyrone King, a visitor from New York, captures flames racing through the bar as panicked screams echo in the background, underscoring the sheer terror of the moment. "We saw people smashing windows, running and screaming. Parents were racing up in their cars. It was like a horror movie," another witness, Adrien, told BFMTV.
The basement bar reportedly had just a single exit, a factor that had already raised concerns for at least one previous visitor and would later prove tragically significant as people tried to flee the flames.
"I felt that an evacuation from the bar would be difficult. I even thought, if panic breaks out here, how would I get back to daylight?" the former visitor told Swiss outlet, Blick.
Rescuers said they fear that many of the victims were teenagers. "It became apparent that there were also a large number of young patients among [the victims]," the head of the Swiss Air Rescue Helicopter team coordinating the response to the tragedy, Philipp Simmen, told Swiss broadcaster SRF.
Swiss media reported that identifying those who were killed in the fire is likely to take considerable time, as the severity and extent of the victims' injuries have made the process especially challenging.
