Around 40 Dead, 115 Injured In New Year’s Fire At Swiss Alpine Resort

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) – About 40 people died and 115 were injured, many seriously, when a fire broke out during a New Year’s celebration at a bar. Swiss Alps Police said he was contacted less than two hours after midnight Thursday.

Authorities have not yet given the exact number of deaths.

The Crans-Montana resort is known internationally as a ski and golf destination, and its crowded Le Constellation bar transformed overnight from a festive scene to potentially one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.

Canton of Valais Police commander Frédéric Gisler stated at a press conference that efforts were continuing to identify the victims and inform their families, adding that the society was “devastated”.

Beatrice Pilloud, chief prosecutor of the Canton of Valais, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to enter the wreckage.

“There is no question of any attack in any case,” Pilloud said.

Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old Parisian who survived the fire, said there was “complete chaos” inside the bar. He told The Associated Press that one of his friends was dead and “two or three people were missing.”

He said he didn’t see the fire start but saw waiters arrive with champagne bottles and sparklers.

Clavier said he felt like he was suffocating and first hid behind a table, then ran upstairs and tried to use the table to break the plexiglass window. It fell out of its box, causing it to escape.

While escaping, he lost his jacket, shoes, phone and bank card, but “I’m still alive and these are just trifles.”

“I’m still in shock,” he added.

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV that they were inside and saw a male bartender lift a female bartender, who was holding a lit candle in a bottle, onto his shoulders. The flames spread and the wooden ceiling collapsed, they told the broadcaster.

One of the women described the crowds growing as people frantically tried to escape from a basement nightclub up a narrow staircase and through a narrow door.

Another witness told BFMTV that people broke windows to escape the fire, some seriously injured, and panicked parents rushed to the scene in their cars to see if their children were trapped inside. The young man stated that he saw about 20 people trying to escape from the smoke and flames, and compared what he saw while watching from across the street to a horror movie.

Authorities explained how the fire triggered the release of flammable gases that likely ignited violently, causing what English-speaking firefighters call flashover or backdraft.

“This evening was supposed to be a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Reynard, president of the regional government of the Canton of Valais.

The number of injured was so high that the intensive care unit and operating room at the regional hospital quickly reached full capacity, Reynard said.

Crans-Montana is less than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Sierre, Switzerland. where are the 28 people In 2012, many children died when a bus coming from Belgium crashed into a Swiss tunnel.

In an area heavily populated by tourists skiing the slopes, authorities have urged locals to exercise caution in the coming days to avoid accidents that could require medical resources, which are already in short supply.

With high-altitude ski slopes rising nearly 3,000 meters (about 9,850 feet) in the heart of the snowy peaks and pine forests of the Valais region, Crans-Montana is one of the best venues on the World Cup circuit. The facility will host the best male and female downhill racers. Lindsey VonnFor their final event before the Milan Cortina Olympics in February. The town’s Crans-sur-Sierre golf club stages the European Masters on a beautiful course every August.

swiss fire Thursday came 25 years after a fire killed 14 people and injured more than 200 while celebrating New Year’s Eve at a cafe in the Dutch fishing town of Volendam.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin said in his post on social media that the government “extends its thoughts and sincere condolences to the victims, the injured and their relatives.”

Thursday was Parmelin’s first day in office, with seven members of the Swiss government taking turns holding the presidency for a year. Out of respect for the families of the victims, he postponed his traditional New Year’s address to the nation, which was scheduled to be broadcast on Thursday afternoon, Swiss broadcasters SRF and RTS reported.

Dazio reported from Berlin and Leicester from Paris. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to correct the spelling of the name of Mathias Reynard, president of the regional government of the Canton of Valais.