How New Year celebrations turned to tragedy as deadly fire ripped through Swiss ski resort bar
Around 40 have been killed after a fire ripped through a busy bar in a popular Swiss ski resort during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Some 100 others have been injured, some seriously, as authorities said local hospitals have reached capacity in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana.
The blaze broke out in the early hours of New Year’s Day, with footage showing crowds escaping the Le Constellation bar engulfed in flames.
Revellers were gathered at the venue to ring in the new year when witnesses described the scenes. The cause of the fire is unknown, but authorities have ruled out an attack and refused to speculate on whether sparklers or lit candles were involved.
Here is everything we know about the incident:
Around 40 people have been killed and about 100 are injured, most of them seriously.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the commander of the Valais cantonal police Frédéric Gisler said authorities expect several foreign nationals are among the dead.
Sixteen Italians have been reported missing, while around a dozen more Italian nationals are being treated in hospital, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday.
Swiss president Guy Parmelin also confirmed many of the victims were young people, with hospital directors confirming patients as young as 16 were being treated.
Work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families but “that will take time and for the time being it is premature to give you a more precise figure,” Gisler said, adding that the community is “devastated” by the incident.
The blast occurred at around 1.30am on Thursday at Le Constellation, a bar popular with tourists in the luxury ski resort of Crans-Montana, in the Valais region, southwestern Switzerland.
The community is in the heart of the Swiss Alps, just 25 miles north of the Matterhorn.
With high-altitude ski runs at around 3,000 meters, Crans-Montana is one of the winter sports centres of Switzerland’s Valais region, drawing winter sports enthusiasts from across the world.
The resort is one of the top race venues on the World Cup circuit in Alpine skiing and will host the next world championships over two weeks in February 2027.
