Swiss authorities continued Thursday afternoon to investigate the deadly disaster, one of the most severe Switzerland and Europe have seen in decades, in which about 40 people were killed and around 100 injured in a fire at a bar in a ski town in the Alps during New Year celebrations.
Officials said the process of identifying the many victims is expected to take considerable time due to the severity of their burns. Authorities have yet to provide precise casualty figures. Foreign tourists were among the dead, though their identities had not yet been released. No Israelis were reported injured.
Footage from fire in the Swiss ski resort
At least 100 people were wounded in the disaster, most of them seriously. Authorities were quick to rule out the possibility of a deliberate attack. Survivors who managed to escape said the fire spread from a candle, apparently a small sparkler attached to a champagne bottle. Initial reports spoke of an explosion, but it remains unclear whether one occurred. Local fire officials said they suspect the blaze spread rapidly and violently due to flammable gases.
The fire broke out during New Year celebrations in the town of Crans-Montana, a popular ski resort in the heart of the Swiss Alps. According to reports, the blaze erupted around 1:30 a.m. in the basement of a bar called Le Constellation Bar. Footage circulated afterward showed the fire raging as large crowds gathered outside.
Beatrice Bille, the chief prosecutor of the Valais canton, said at a midday news conference it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. She stressed there was no suspicion of terrorism. “At no point was there any question of this being some form of attack,” she said.
While authorities are cautious about assigning blame, testimonies published Thursday suggested possible negligence by the bar’s staff. Two young women who escaped and spoke to France’s BFMTV said the fire spread to the wooden ceiling of the basement from what they described as a birthday candle placed on a champagne bottle. One said the ceiling ignited when a staff member carried another employee on his shoulders as she held the bottle. “Within seconds, the entire ceiling was on fire. Everything was made of wood,” she said.
The woman described panic erupting in the packed basement, which included teenagers. People screamed and tried to flee, but were forced through a single, narrow exit that was far too small for the number of patrons inside. Some witnesses estimated that about 200 people were in the bar at the time. “The flames were a meter away from us. If we hadn’t escaped, we would have been injured as well,” one woman said. The other said she fell on the stairs during the crush and injured her knee.
Another eyewitness told French television that survivors, some badly injured, smashed windows to escape the fire. The man said he also saw parents rushing to the scene to see whether their children were trapped inside. He described watching about 20 people emerge through thick smoke and flames, calling the scene “a horror movie.”
Questions may intensify following testimony from a former bar employee, who told the local news site Blick, that the basement had only one access route, something he said had raised concerns for him as far back as two years ago. “I thought, if panic breaks out, how would I get back to daylight?” he said.
The BBC interviewed another man who said he ran into the burning building in an attempt to save people. “We heard a loud explosion and saw a lot of smoke. I thought my younger brother was inside, so I came and tried to break the window to help people escape,” he said. He described seeing people “burning from head to toe, with no clothes left.” After rescue forces arrived, he said he continued helping at the scene, handing out water and clothing to the injured and giving one man his jacket. “It’s very disturbing because I went to that bar every day this week. The one day I didn’t go, it burned down.”
No Israelis were reported harmed, but the ZAKA disaster response organization said it had received reports of three missing Jewish individuals and that a team from its international unit was heading to the site. A synagogue serving the local Jewish community is located not far from the bar. Rabbi Yitzhak Levy, a Chabad emissary, told the news site JFeed he heard “a massive explosion” in the middle of the night. “We immediately understood something terrible had happened,” he said. “Within minutes the streets were filled with people, ambulances and emergency forces. It was complete chaos.”
Shock spread across Switzerland and neighboring European countries. Guy Parmelin, who on Thursday began his term as Switzerland’s president under the country’s rotating system, announced he was postponing his New Year’s address. He said his thoughts, and those of the government, were with the victims and their families. French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed shock, saying his thoughts were with the victims’ families and the injured and offering France’s full solidarity and support to Switzerland. Matthias Reynard, head of the Valais cantonal government, said, “This evening was supposed to be a moment of celebration and togetherness, but it turned into a nightmare.”
Police said the area around the scene was completely sealed off, and the airspace above the town was closed. Numerous emergency forces were dispatched, and one local resident said helicopters were landing at the site every 10 minutes for several hours. Swiss public broadcaster RTS quoted a local ambulance doctor as saying hospitals in the area were “overwhelmed” with burn victims. Reflecting the strain on medical services, authorities urged residents to exercise extreme caution in the coming hours to avoid additional injuries requiring treatment.
Crans-Montana, a town of about 10,000 people, is located in the Swiss Alps, with its highest point reaching roughly 3,000 meters above sea level. Formed in 2017 through the merger of several municipalities, it lies about two hours from the capital, Bern, covers about 3.7 square kilometers, and is known as a popular ski destination that hosts international competitions each year.