Name: Dozens Killed, 115 Injured in Fire at Swiss Ski Resort Bar During New Year's Celebration
Uploaded: 2026-01-01T23:44:45.000Z
Description: 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.

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Around 40 people were killed and 115 injured when a fire ripped through a crowded bar during a New Year's Eve party in the upscale Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, officials said on Thursday.

Police said the fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. as revelers were celebrating in a bar called Le Constellation in the resort in southwestern Switzerland, which locals said was popular with teenagers.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin described the disaster as "one of the worst tragedies our country has ever known" and said most of the dead were young people.

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 definitive death toll would take time because many of the bodies were badly burned. Experts were using dental and DNA records to try to identify the dead.

The head of the local canton's police, Frederic Gisler, said around 40 people were presumed to be dead and 115 were injured, most of them seriously. He said it was too early to give details on the identity of the dead and injured but Italian authorities said 6 Italians were still missing and 13 in hospital.

Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage.

“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.

She later said the number of people who were in the bar is “currently totally unknown,” adding that its maximum capacity will be part of the investigation.

“For the time being, we don’t have any suspect,” she added, when asked if anyone had been arrested over the fire. “An investigation has been opened, not against anyone, but to illuminate the circumstances of this dramatic fire.”

Gisler said the priority until further notice would be identifying the victims, and added that “this work will have to take several days.”
<h2>Victims From Several Countries</h2>
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 lengthy process because the severity of the burns had rendered identification challenging, one European official said.

“We met the families this afternoon and it’s terrible because to be in front of them with all their fear and apprehension and terrible anxiety and we don’t have all the answers. And we won’t have them straight away because identifying them will take time. It’s a terrible situation on the ground. Unimaginable," Mathias Reynard, president of the Valais cantonal government, told Reuters, his voice breaking.

President Emmanuel Macron said some of the victims were being transferred to French hospitals.

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 improvised triage centers set up in a nearby 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.

"And then it was just ambulances coming back and forth as much as possible," said Dominic Dubois, who witnessed the frantic scenes as the bodies were brought out.

Video footage showed lines of ambulances queuing and helicopters landing to take victims to nearby hospitals and specialist burn units in other Swiss cities, including Lausanne and Zurich. Switzerland's neighbors, France, Germany and Italy, also offered to treat victims in their own centers.

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 large crowd stood in silence in the frosty night.
<h2>Resort Town Sits in the Heart of the Alps</h2>
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.

In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed.

With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region's snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit. The resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers, including Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February. The town's Crans-sur-Sierre golf club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.

The Swiss blaze on Thursday came 25 years after an inferno in the Dutch fishing town of Volendam on New Year’s Eve, which killed 14 people and injured more than 200 as they celebrated in a cafe.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in office, said many emergency staff had been “confronted by scenes of indescribable violence and distress.”

“This Thursday must be the time of prayer, unity and dignity,” he said. “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help.”

<em>Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</em>

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