The fire broke out shortly after midnight at Le Constellation, a basement venue filled with hundreds of mostly young revellers in the Alpine resort of Crans Montana.
A scene of extreme panic and chaos unfolded as a devastating fire tore through a packed bar and nightclub in Switzerland during New Yearโs Eve celebrations, eyewitnesses said. People collapsed as frightened crowds fled for their lives. By Friday morning, at least 47 people had died and 115 had been injured, as the country entered 5 days of national mourning.
The fire broke out shortly after midnight at Le Constellation, a basement venue filled with hundreds of mostly young revellers in the Alpine resort of Crans Montana. Authorities said many of the injured suffered severe burns, making identification difficult. Switzerlandโs president described the disaster as unprecedented, while neighbouring countries offered medical help.
Italyโs ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told Sky TG24 that local authorities had informed him the fire may have been caused by someone setting off a firework inside the bar.
Witnesses recall scenes of horror
Survivors described scenes of confusion as flames spread rapidly, filling the club with thick smoke and cutting off escape routes. Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when a male bartender lifted a female colleague onto his shoulders while she held a bottle topped with a lit candle. According to their account, the flame caught the wooden ceiling and the fire spread within seconds.
“The fire spread across the ceiling very quickly,โ said one of the women, identified as Emma. She and her friend Albane said panic erupted almost immediately as parts of the ceiling collapsed and people surged towards a narrow staircase leading out of the basement.
‘Everyone was screaming’
Witnesses spoke of a deadly crowd surge as people tried to escape through a small exit.
โIt was absolute panic, everyone was screaming,โ Emma and Albane said, describing how movement became uncontrollable as smoke thickened.
Another witness said people smashed windows to escape as flames engulfed the venue. He described seeing badly injured people outside and parents arriving in cars, desperately searching for their children.
Watching from across the street, the witness said he saw about 20 people struggling through smoke and fire, comparing the scene to a horror film.
Video footage verified by Reuters showed flames racing across the building as crowds fled.
โThere were people screaming, and then people lying on the ground, probably dead,โ said 21 year old Samuel Rapp, who arrived after the fire. โThey had jackets over their faces.โ
Frederic Gisler, head of police in the Valais canton, said around 40 people were believed to have died and 115 were injured, most of them seriously. Italian authorities said 6 Italians were missing and 13 had been hospitalised.
Survivors describe total chaos
Axel Clavier, a 16 year old from Paris who survived the fire, told the Associated Press he experienced โtotal chaosโ inside the bar. One of his friends died and 2 or 3 others were missing.
Clavier said he saw waitresses carrying champagne bottles with sparklers but did not see how the fire started. As smoke filled the club, he struggled to breathe, hid behind a table, then ran upstairs and used a table to smash a Plexiglas window to escape.
โIโm still in shock,โ he said. โI lost my jacket, shoes, phone and bank card, but Iโm alive. Itโs just stuff.โ
Witnesses said the injured were treated at makeshift triage centres in nearby buildings, including a bar and a UBS bank branch, before ambulances and helicopters transported victims to hospitals in Lausanne, Zurich and other cities. โAnd then it was just ambulances going back and forth,โ said Dominic Dubois, who watched bodies being carried out.
Gruelling task of identifying victims
Investigators began the slow and grim process of identifying dozens of badly burned bodies. They said it could take several days, as many victims, mostly young revellers, suffered severe burns.
As teams worked through the wreckage, anxious parents of missing youths issued desperate appeals for information, while foreign embassies tried to establish whether their nationals were among the victims.
โThe first objective is to assign names to all the bodies. This work must be done because the information is so terrible and sensitive that nothing can be told to families unless we are 100 percent sure,โ Crans Montana mayor Nicolas Feraud told a press conference, adding that the process would be slow and meticulous.