About 40 dead, 100 injured in Switzerland bar fire

by · UPI

Jan. 1 (UPI) -- About 40 people are believed to be dead and about 100 injured -- many of them severely -- after a fire broke out at a New Year's Eve celebration at a bar in Switzerland.

The bar, Le Constellation in Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps, was a popular place for tourists and young people. Many of the injured were between 16 and 26 years old. The victims are believed to be from several different countries.

Smoke began pouring out of the bar at around 1:30 a.m., witnesses said, and emergency services were called soon after. They sent 10 helicopters and 40 ambulances to take the injured to hospitals, officials said at a press conference Thursday morning. The nearest hospital had run out of space in the emergency department and surgical suites. Three specialized planes took burn victims to Zurich, which is about 90 miles away.

Le Constellation had a dance floor in its basement with a narrow stairway, which may have made it difficult for people to escape.

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Officials have ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack, though they haven't yet determined the cause of the fire.

There was an explosion during the fire, but officials have said it was from a flashover. A flashover is when all combustible materials in a room ignite at once from the heat.

Witnesses said many people struggled after coming out of the heat of the bar and into the outside cold. Victims were treated at makeshift triage centers in a nearby bar and a branch of UBS bank.

"And then it was just ambulances coming back and forth as much as possible," Dominic Dubois, who witnessed the frantic scenes as the bodies were brought out, told The Guardian.

Doctors and counselors were sent to the area to offer psychological help for the survivors.

"Significant resources have been deployed from a forensic medicine perspective, primarily to identify the victims," said Beatrice Pilloud, prosecutor general of the canton, at the news conference. Pilloud said that authorities were doing everything they could to get the victims' bodies to their families.

Crans-Montana is a resort town of about 10,000 people that's popular among wealthy Europeans. It's in the canton of Valais in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

"What was a moment of joy turned into a tragedy in Crans-Montana last night, felt across the country and beyond," Swiss President Guy Parmelin said on X. "The Federal Council has taken note of this with deep dismay. Its thoughts are with the victims, the injured and their families and it extends its deepest condolences."

Parmelin postponed a scheduled New Year address because of the fire.

"While this evening should have been a time for celebration and gathering, it turned into a nightmare," Mathias Reynard, a member of the Swiss National Council from Valais, said at the press conference.