A New Year’s party in an upscale Swiss ski resort turned deadly. Here’s what we know
By Martin Goillandeau, Laura Sharman, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Helen Regan, Lauren Kent, CNN
(CNN) — New Year celebrations turned to tragedy in Switzerland on Thursday, as a fire tore through a bar packed with young people at an upscale Alpine ski resort, killing 40 and injuring about 119 others, in what was described by the Swiss president as one of the country’s worst tragedies.
The blaze broke out in the early hours of New Year’s Day at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, one of Switzerland’s most exclusive locales. Witnesses described chaos and terror as flames rapidly engulfed a bar in the basement, with people screaming and smashing windows in a desperate bid to escape.
Families of the missing faced an agonizing wait for news of their loved ones on Friday as Swiss officials said identifying those killed in the fire, which include citizens of at least nine European countries, could “take several days.”
An investigation has been launched into the cause of the blaze and whether safety standards were upheld. Officials said Friday that the fire was likely caused by sparklers in champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling.
Here’s what we know.
What happened?
Smoke was first spotted at the venue around 1:30 a.m. local time on January 1, according to Valais Cantonal Police Commander Frédéric Gisler.
Le Constellation lies at the heart of the luxury ski resort of Crans-Montana, in the French and German-speaking canton of Valais.
Videos obtained and verified by CNN show the moments immediately after the deadly fire broke out, as it rapidly spread across the bar’s ceiling. Panicked crowds can be seen rushing up a staircase to escape, while another video shows the fire, which quickly turned into a raging inferno, engulf the bar as people desperately tumble out of windows and pile down a flight of stairs toward the street outside.
Multiple people can be seen lying motionless on the ground outside in another video, as bystanders attend to them.
Laetitia Place, 17, who was inside the bar when the fire broke out, said people were frantically pushing to get through a small door. “We all fell, we were piled on top of each other, some people were burning, and some were dead next to us,” she told Reuters.
Another eyewitness recalled hearing people shouting as the fire tore through the venue. “There were people screaming, and then people lying on the ground, probably dead. They had jackets over their faces,” local resident Samuel Rapp told Reuters.
Two witnesses said there were at least 200 people inside the establishment. Prosecutors said Friday that they may never know how many people were present at the time of the disaster.
According to its website, Le Constellation – which has two bars and a terrace space – has a capacity of 300 people.
Authorities responded within minutes of a fire being reported, Gisler said, and 10 helicopters and 40 ambulances were mobilized. The huge number of casualties overwhelmed the region’s medical system and so patients have been transported to hospitals across the country and abroad.
What caused the fire?
While the exact circumstances around the tragedy are still being investigated, the chief prosecutor in Switzerland’s Valais canton Beatrice Pilloud said on Friday that, “Some hypotheses can be confirmed. As things stand, everything points to the fire starting from sparklers or flares placed in champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling, which very rapidly led to a flashover fire.”
A flashover occurs when hot gases rise to the ceiling and spread across the walls, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Heat intensifies until all combustible items in the room reach their ignition point near-simultaneously, as does the room itself.
Two witnesses told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the devastating incident happened after sparklers were placed in champagne bottles and raised in the air.
“One waitress was standing on another waiter’s shoulders, and the bottle and the flames were just a few centimeters away from the ceiling,” one eyewitness said.
“Once the ceiling was on fire, within about 10 seconds the entire nightclub was on fire,” the other reveler added.
Local resident Thomas Dias told CNN the bar was popular with teenagers and young people. To those trapped inside, he said, escape would have likely been a “nightmare,” if hundreds had to funnel up the narrow staircase from the basement to the ground floor.
An apparent promotional video for the bar posted in May 2024 shows women wearing motorcycle helmets and carrying bottles of alcohol topped with sparklers as they walked through the establishment. CNN has asked Le Constellation for comment on the cause of the fire and the purported use of sparklers.
The bar had a fire exit but most people inside the venue would have struggled to find it, Valais security director Stéphane Ganzer told a news conference on Friday.
“When there is an instance of flashover where you have so much smoke that it’s impossible to see, to move, the majority of people, one would imagine, failed to find the fire exit,” he said.
Who are the victims?
Police said at least 40 people were killed and around 119 others injured. Six of the injured people are yet to be identified, according to Valais Cantonal police chief Gisler.
Of those injured, 71 are Swiss nationals, Gisler said at a news conference on Friday. The injured also includes 14 French nationals, 11 Italians, four Serbians, one Bosnian national, one Belgian national, one Luxembourgian national, one Polish national and one Portuguese national.
A further 14 of the patients being treated have not yet had their nationality confirmed, Gisler added.
Italy’s foreign ministry has said that multiple Italians remain missing and unaccounted for following the disaster, and France’s foreign minister said Friday that eight French citizens are still unaccounted for in the aftermath.
Of those injured, a “significant number” have been classified as being in a “critical” condition, said Swiss State Council president Mathias Reynard.
The president of the Swiss Confederation, Guy Parmelin, previously said many of the victims were young people “full of plans, hope and dreams.”
What has the reaction been?
Parmelin said the incident represented a “tragic loss that touches the whole country and far beyond.”
New Year’s Day was the first day of Parmelin’s one-year term as head of state; he postponed a traditional address to the nation out of respect for the victims.
French President Emmanuel Macron also offered his condolences to the bereaved, saying Switzerland has “the full solidarity of France and our fraternal support.”
Dozens of mourners attended a vigil near the bar Thursday night, where people laid flowers, lit candles and comforted each other.
“You think you’re safe here but this can happen anywhere. They were people like us,” Piermarco Pani, 18, told Reuters.
The US Embassy in the Swiss capital Bern said it is “deeply saddened by the tragic fire.”
The French couple that own Le Constellation said they were “completely in shock,” according to CNN affiliate BFMTV, citing a source close to the case.
The bar’s owners have been interviewed by police to gather information, the chief prosecutor Pilloud told reporters on Friday, adding that investigators have not yet identified any criminal responsibility.
Where is Crans-Montana?
The Crans-Montana resort is popular with foreign tourists. According to its official website, it welcomes around 3 million visitors a year, with roughly a fifth coming from abroad – most from France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.
It is famed for its year-round sunshine, which it owes to its position on a south-facing plateau in the Rhone Valley. The area – 1,500 meters above sea level – offers sweeping Alpine vistas stretching from the Matterhorn to Mont Blanc, one of Europe’s highest peaks.
Tourists are drawn by its understated glamor, with high-end shopping and fine dining as well as extensive ski slopes and a lively apres-ski scene.
With a small population of around 15,000, the area is said to have a close-knit community as well as being a low-key place for celebrities to go skiing, golfing and dining.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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CNN’s James Legge, Sandi Sidhu, Ivana Kottasova, Charlotte Reck, Sophie Tanno, Camille Knight, Tori B. Powell, Caitlin Danaher and Max Saltman contributed reporting.
