Sparklers on champagne bottles likely cause of deadly fire at ski resort bar at Crans-Montana on New Year’s Day
A local told this thread that Le Constellation is known as a bar that allows young teenagers to buy drinks. According to Swiss law, the age limit for purchasing wine and beer is 16 years and 18 years for high-proof alcohol.
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Officials said 115 people were injured in the fire and most of them were sent to burn units of hospitals in Italy, France and Germany, as well as Switzerland.
According to Frédéric Gisler, police commander of the Valais region, the injured included 71 Swiss citizens, 14 French and 11 Italians, as well as citizens of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland. The nationality of 14 people is not yet clear.
The Australian government confirmed that an Australian was injured in the fire but did not say anything other than his family was receiving consular assistance.
It was announced that the first victim was 17-year-old Italian golfer Emanuele Galeppini. His uncle, Sebastiano Galeppini, told the Italian news agency ANSA that his family was waiting for DNA tests, but the Italian Golf Federation announced his death.
Among those injured was 19-year-old French football player Tahirys Dos Santos, who was severely burned in the fire, according to his football club FC Mertz.
Eric Bonvin, general manager of the regional hospital in Sion, a Swiss town near Crans-Montana, told The Associated Press that 55 seriously injured victims were hospitalized immediately after the fire.
Bonvin said the injured were teenagers and young adults, with an average age of 20 years old.
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“There was both smoke and heat inhalation, which probably caused internal burns in some of them. As you can imagine, this is truly a catastrophic situation,” he said.
By Friday afternoon, most had been transferred to other hospitals, while others had been discharged, Bonvin said.
Reuters via AP
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