The blaze broke out around at 1.30am (12.30am GMT) on New Year’s Day, in the basement of a bar called Le Constellation in the upmarket resort.
Evening of revelry turns tragic
The basement of the bar was crowded with revellers seeing in the New Year when the fire broke out.
According to eyewitnesses, the blaze quickly spread through the wooden roof and engulfed the space – causing mass panic as the crowd tried to escape.
One woman said there was a huge surge as people frantically tried to escape up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door.
Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze.
The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.
Emergency personnel work at the site of the fire at the Le Constellation bar
REUTERS
“This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Rénard, head of the regional government.
The injured were so numerous that the intensive care unit and operating theatre at the regional hospital quickly hit full capacity, Mr Rénard said.
Swiss Federal President Guy Parmelin expressed shock at the scale of the disaster, which came less than a year after a fire in a club in North Macedonia killed 59 people.
“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,” he said on the social media platform X, expressing condolences.
The foreign ministers of neighbouring Italy and Germany both expressed condolences.
Police said many people were being treated for burns and that the area had been completely closed off, with a no-fly zone imposed over Crans-Montana.
Authorities said 10 helicopters and 40 ambulances had been deployed.
Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, has said it is too early to determine the cause of the fire with experts yet to go inside to examine the wrecked bar.
“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” she said.
Reports have emerged of a birthday celebration gone terribly wrong.
Two survivors of the bar fire said they saw it start when a candle connected with the wooden roof of its basement.
One of the women told BFM TV: “During the evening, a waiter climbed onto another waiter’s shoulders.
“He was holding a birthday candle, which was very close to the ceiling, and [the ceiling] caught fire in a couple of minutes.”
Eyewitnesses said people frantically tried to escape up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door
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Another woman said: “The staircase leading out of the nightclub was extremely narrow. There was a huge surge in the crowd. We managed to escape just in time.”
Police commander Frédéric Gisler confirmed the fire “started in the basement of the bar” and there was a crush as people desperately tried to get out via the single staircase.
A local police spokesman confirmed that “dozens of pyrotechnic devices in bottles” lined tables in the basement of the bar.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the fire may have been caused by fireworks.
“It seems to have been an accident caused by a fire, by some explosion, by some firecracker thrown during New Year’s celebrations,” he told Italy’s Sky TG24 tv channel.
Police officers and rescuers stand next to a firefighters vehicle at the site of the fire in the Crans-Montana ski resort
AFP via Getty Images
There are few confirmed details about the victims of the blaze.
Speaking at a press conference, the region’s head of security said several different nationalities are involved in the incident.
The UK embassy in the Swiss capital of Bern posted on X: “Swiss emergency services are responding to a fire in Crans-Montana, with nationals from multiple countries likely affected. We continue to monitor the situation.
“Whilst we have not been approached for assistance, our staff stand ready to support British nationals abroad 24/7.”
The Italian ambassador to Switzerland has said it will take weeks to identify the dead.
Earlier, the Italian foreign minister had said the identification of victims would be complex and require time, due to the nature of the injuries.
Media outlets in France are reporting that at least two of the injured are French.
Footage has been released from inside the fire-hit bar
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Resort town sits in the heart of the Alps
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 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.
It is also a popular destination for winter sports enthusiasts.
According the resort’s official website, it received around 3 million visitors a year, with roughly 20% of them coming from abroad – most from France, Italy, the UK and the US.
